To Collect an Empty Soul [NDE, Joshua/Yoshi]

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

The teacher looked impressed by the teamwork shown by the students. They had indeed come in first, despite their physical shortcomings. "Well done... But watch this." She winked at the two while she got in position at the beginning of the obstacle course. She was going to demonstrate something. Show off, probably. The wink was indicative that she was about to show off with some Shinigami art. She waited until the entire class was done with the course and could watch her. She was basking in their eyes, waiting for the admiration she expected to receive. She was definitely about to show off.

She took a running start and leapt over the first wall, clearing it completely with her jump. The second wall was nearly the same as the first as she jumped up, got a foothold on the top of the wall, and let her momentum just carry the rest of her body over it. The next wall was going to be a challenge though if that's as high as she could jump. The third wall was almost twice as high as the second. But she kept running in her full sprint. She jumped up the five feet that her vertical leap could take her, planted her feet on thin air, and then miraculously jumped a second time. She had somehow cleared the nine foot wall without touching it, ending up on the other side with a nine foot fall as she landed and rolled out of the way to reduce any damage from falling.

She got a few cheers and a little bit of applause from the rest of the students, and quite a few questions of how she did that. "It's a little technique called Advanced Air Ground. It takes the properties of the human world's density of air and translates it into multiple disciplines and techniques. I could teach you all if you'd like. I'm sure you'd be able to handle it at your level." So, it was up to Joshua and Yoshitsune. Did they want to learn this technique from the Shinigami or not? Being able to double jump on thin air might come in handy for their journey to the Forge.

[joshua]

Onaga Kiku smiled in front of the two boys. They had managed to make there way quickly and worked together easily. Joshua felt like they had been partners for years now. He wanted to celebrate. The supposed last of the batch came in first when it really counted. Joshua would never be able to do it alone. He stood up and waited next to his partner. He wondered what the teacher was going to say.

Onaga Kiku was impressed by their teamwork and their speed. She then said that she would demonstrate how she would go over the wall. Joshua was insterested to see how she owuld do it alone when so many have tried and needed the help of their partners. He could not believe that she would do it alone. She quickly proved him wrong. 

Onaga Kiku jumped over the first one with a slight running start. She continued using her momentum and jumped up on to the second wall before jumping down again, keeping her momentum going. She jumped towards the third wall and it looked like she was going to hurt herself. However, she somehow managed to jump in the air. She pushed off of the air itself and made it to the other side of the wall. 

Joshua was amazed at her skill and technique and he found himself wishing to learn it. His wishes were answered when she asked if they wanted to learn it. He then remembered that Yoshi was the man of the hour, not him. Yoshi would decide for the both of them. "Hey man. Congratulations on a victory! We did it! Now, should we learn this technique or do you want to move on? You are the MVP of this game, you should decide. It might be useful but we might waste time. The choice is yours." He said with a smile. He honestly wanted to learn it. 

Joshua would do whatever Yoshi decided to do. However, he had to do something first. He had to wash off all the mud from his body. He knew there was some kind of water device or a pond near there. He quickly started scrubbing and washing all the mud and dirt from his body. He started to think going topless was a bad idea. It was worth it though. They managed to win thanks to their teamwork.

[Okura Yoshitsune]

He was shocked. Yoshitsune hardly suspected that they would make it anywhere necessarily in the middle of the placings, let alone at the forefront. He would realize only after he had completed the whole course that nobody else had made it yet. He didn't win by leaps and bounds, but it was first place, and that was something that had both never transpired prior to the event in all his time at the academy, and he never could have predicted. Suddenly, the beating he took in kendo class just a few hours ago seemed so very far behind him, and it wasn't such a big deal. Sure he couldn't beat a freshman in a sparring match, but he came in first place here today.

Suddenly he had the teacher's attention, and she got his, telling him to watch her, implying that she had a nifty trick to show the two of them. Once everyone else had finished, from the jocks to the fat guys who got stuck in the tunnel, the instructor would begin her demonstration. In a graceful movement, the Squad 10 member confidently shot towards the first wall, going over it in what seemed like a single bound, and in a second stride she overtook the second wall with just as much ease. As she approached the third wall, however, Yoshitsune had to question how she was going to make the jump without a partner, after all, it appeared that she could just barely make it five feet up with her running start. Sure, she could perhaps grab the top at the apex of her jump, but then why so confidently wink in regards to also being able to complete the obstacle course she set up?

For an instant, it appeared that she was ready to throw herself through the wall like some kind of ballistic projectile, jumping right at the center of it without even reaching one hand up for safety. She was going to crash, something made Yoshi want to move and help her, but he jammed up a moment, maybe because he trusted that a shingami with a zanpakuto knew how to not hurt themselves on an obstacle course they themselves passed years ago, maybe because he couldn't handle the pressure of saving someone from injuring themselves in an instant like that. In the moment that she saved herself, he was frozen in place, looking at her. Happily for him, she performed a textbook video game double jump, springing up and over the wall using the air as a second surface to hop off of.

Yoshi went from zero to ten in an instant, "Woooah!" he would utter in awe, his face showing just how impressed he was. He just about couldn't believe it. The rest of the obstacle course basically didn't matter after that point, the point was made, and an applause was summoned from the crowd of trainees, as well as the general question of how, though even Yoshitsune could imagine how, with his meager senses. The instructor explained the Advanced Air Ground's premise, and offered to teach anyone who still had the energy and gumption to continue training.

Joshua, being the supportive partner he was, credited Yoshi for the victory and offered him the choice to be made. "The ability to double jump like that, and everything else that comes with the technique. Even if we're not considering the utility during the test, this would be a worthwhile technique to learn in general. So, personally, I'm in," he would say, smiling in a keen sense of interest. "I mean, no matter what, it doesn't hurt to have more tricks, and since there's no more classes after this, all we'd be doing is cutting into rest time, no?" He would still be winded from the obstacle course, or perhaps the overall muscle soreness of the conditioning to begin with.

Perhaps he was underestimating the technique's difficulty to learn, but he'd never had a hard time learning, only improving. It was a difference in his world, he could learn powerful and useful techniques, for sure, he could even master kido way above his weight class, he could practice kendo day in and day out, flawlessly. But when it came to Yoshitsune, improvement was a constantly fading dream, his physical and spiritual abilities fell short. Just being average seemed like a long term goal to him. Because of this, that victory in the obstacle race gave him his first taste of success, giving him a though that maybe, if he used his head a little, he could actually graduate instead of flunk out.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Onaga nodded towards Joshua and Yoshitsune. She began to teach them all about Advanced Air Ground. It started with her having them summon orbs of reiatsu again like before, but this time, she wanted them to lie down on their backs, perform a cruch, and then push the orb out of their feet. They might look pretty silly, but their abs would get a good workout and they'd practice channeling reiatsu through their whole bodies not just their hands. It might take them a few tries, but they'd eventually get it. They'd be able to seamlessly pull their knees to their chest and then push outwards not just with their legs and abs but with their whole soul. Following that training, the rest was simple. All they had to do was practice summoning reiatsu to their feet, then applying pressure to the air itself and make it solid.

The technique had more uses than just double jumping, but it was hard to teach all of them without being in the Land of the Living where the technique had most of its acrobatic uses. Onaga did her best, showing them how to apply the technique to make walls that they could push off of or even how to turn the air ground into a push that could give them a little bit of wiggle room inside of a Bakudo or jump higher than normal. She even mentioned that the technique, if mastered, could let them stand upside down in the Land of the Living. She'd seen it happen, no really. It was a simple technique, that even Class 8 students could learn if they applied themselves to her teaching. But Joshua and Yoshitsune were right, it could really come in handy. The sun soon began to set, though, signalling that it was time to head to bed to rest up for the next day of training...

OOC: In order to Learn this technique, you must spend at least 2 paragraphs detailing your practicing of the training methods. If you write 4 you will make it Proficient and if you write 6 then you will make it Mastered. It'll be as if you were training for it in a Solo Training thread.

[Okura Yoshitsune]

Indeed it wasn't a difficult technique in prospect, even the training seemed pretty basic, like an application of all that they'd been doing all day. Albeit it required crunches instead of sit-ups... Nevertheless Yoshi was relatively capable in this field. While he hadn't actually practiced generating reiatsu orbs from his feet any time prior, he was certainly not afraid of the prospect. That was probably where his first miscalculation arose, his lack of practice meant he was effectively attempting to learn how to shoot a moving target from a motorcycle while not knowing how to operate the firearm in question.

Nevertheless, he was certainly trying. With each crunch, he emitted reiatsu from his feet, the spirit energy control required was not necessarily high, but the rapidity of the exercise was also playing a part in its difficulty. The shinigami-in-training cursed his lack of forethought on the matter, he could have known this technique already had he realized how practical omnidirectional reiatsu application could be. The practice he was getting served as a practical double-whammy of exercise. He almost forgot about his physical fatigue as he focused on getting the technique right: Crunch, ball, crunch, ball. Soon he would actually start forming the sphere he'd been aiming for, which meant that he was getting the hang of the actual technique.

He'd decided that instead of standing up and getting in 'double jump practice' he would be better off practicing the application to the air whilst laying down still. For one, it provided safety against the inevitable failures that were going to get in his way, and he'd rather look stupid than look stupid and unsafe. So he continued the training, crunch, ball, push! Of course the first time, his foot moved through the ball harmlessly. He furrowed his brow as he started to concentrate once more on the sphere.

What was it that he wanted it to do? He wanted the reiatsu to solidify the air for him, which meant that he had to give it that property. Happily for him, he had already learned a pretty advanced Bakudo, which used a similar principal to pin people. While it didn't solidify the air to do so, it did solidify itself, which meant that a property could be established like such. For a moment he would close his eyes, concentrating on how it felt to use the kido in practice back in the day... It felt like a part of his soul became rigid, or that it was pushing together hard enough to not break. "Ah! That's it!" he would exclaim with no context to his thoughts

It all made sense, the goal wasn't to necessarily solidify air, but to compress it such that it didn't give with his weight. That ball needed to compress air. He would do it again, a crunch, then a ball, but this time it was a special ball, it wasn't solid, in fact it seemed to form differently from the others. He first spread his reiatsu into the air beneath his feet, and then pulled it all into a solid platform, just as he needed to. As he would kick, his foot impacted against the surface and he would spring off of it, dragging his back across the ground and getting it all dirty.

"It worked...." he would mutter a moment. Sitting up. There wasn't really a visible sign of what he had done anymore, the form broke. The prospect of how it functioned, how it best functioned for him was now locked in his head. It was time to experiment again. He would lift his arm, palm down, and did the same thing he just did except from his hand. He felt the reiatsu scatter and then condense, compressing the air into a tangible solid form. The feel to his skin was indescribable, like he was touching something and nothing at the same time. He would lean his weight into it in order to give himself a hand up. "It worked!" he would exclaim once again, now standing, the air dispersing once again just after his hand left it.

Yoshitsune, as a test to his proficiency, would approach the 9 ft wall, almost double his height. Normally he could jump once and grab the top of the 5 ft wall even from a stand, but this wall was way too large for him to work with normally. "Alright... Test run," he would murmur. He would jump up, and as though it was ingrained in him, which by all rights it may as well have been after all the previous instances of the exercise he'd taken to get her, his knees would reel up to his chest, and reiatsu scattered from his feet, then condensed the air into a platform beneath his feet, he would shoot his legs out and push against the air with all his weight, and he found himself flinging further into the air, and he was sailing over the wall altogether.

Landing on the other side, after about an hour and a half of training, he had the technique down pat. His legs were pretty sore though, and not from the training he'd just undergone. He felt like he was about to faint from exhaustion... "Maybe I used up too much spirit energy..." he would murmur. The sun was setting, he decided it was time to hit the sack... "Alright everyone, Josh, I'll seeya tomorrow in class..." he would say to everyone, waving before heading back to his dorm. He managed to remain awake until he got there, but as soon as he closed the door, he flopped over on the spot, only remaining conscious long enough to move his bookbag into 'pillow-position'.

[joshua]

Joshua listened carefully as Onaga told them the type of training to do. It would be crunches with reiatsu. He had to focus it to his feet and create a ball by pushing it out of his feet. To be honest, Joshua had no idea what he was doing. He was never very good with reiatsu and kido in general. He never practiced on his own like Yoshi seemed to do. He had trouble making a ball in his hand. He had no idea how long it would take him.

Joshua started doing crunches normally. He thought the exercise would help him understand how it would work. He looked over to his partner and already noticed that he was making progress. Joshua bit his lip, he hated making mistakes and being unsure. He started by gathering the reiatsu in his hands. He had gotten used to it from the practice earlier. 

Joshua started to push it inside of his body. He felt the enrgy flowing through him as he directed it lower and lower. He felt it go through his torso making its way all the way to his legs then finally his feet. He struggled pushing it down to his legs, and pushing it down to his feet was even harder. He was breathing heavily already. He lifted his legs to do the crunching position but he felt the enrgy dissipate. 

He turned around and punched the ground in frustration. He left a small dent in the dirt and he was grinding his teeth. He stood up first and rubbed his fist a little bit. He sighed and started to observe Yoshi first. He was making so much headway now. Joshua would not give up. He created a ball of reiatsu in his hands. He started to focus on it and nothing else, the sphere became clearer and rounder and more stable. He felt the reiatsu seemingly attract to the sphere as he focused longer and harder on it, the sphere itself was growing bigger and bigger. 

Once he was satisfied with the size of the sphere, he opened his eyes and smiled as there was a large ball of bright and glowing light. Now, he had to learn control before transferring it around his body. He started throwing the ball and juggling around his hands. He split the sphere into three and started to juggle the three of them between his two hands. Then, he started to move the three smaller orbsa round his fingers making them dance in between his fingers. 

Joshua jumped up with joy as he managed to do this. He then started to create another large ball of reiatsu. He felt his control much better now and he pushed the ball inwards, pushing it down through hia body with ease, passing through the natural pathways of the body. It reached his feet with ease and he managed to hold it there wothout any issues. He went back on the ground, keeping the enrgy in his feet and he did a crunch, while pushing the energy out of his feet while stretching his legs outwards. He felt a massive push as he was sent forward through the dirt. He jumped up ecstatically. He did it. He then turned to Yoshi, who was already attempting the third wall again. He watched in awe as Yoshi seemingly finished learning the technique already.

"Dude, you did it. That was awesome! Congratulations! I'll stay here for a bit longer, I'm almost done. Good night man, sleep tight. Make sure you are well rested for tomorrow." He said with a bright smile. Not willing to lose, he stood up and started to try and double jump. This time he would gather the energy in his feet directly and he felt the enrgy spread through out his legs. He jumped directly upwards and was around four or five feet in the air when he pushed the energy outwards like a crunch. He felt the air seemingly hold his weight and allow him to jump upwards once more. He then realized that he was falling straight down. He was plummeting quickly now.

Joshua panicked, he couldn't even scream at the moment. He was falling towards the ground quickly. He took a que from his training earlier and he gathered reiatsu all throughout his body. He quickly released it into the air right below him, creating a sort of air safety net for him to use before it quickly dissipated, allowing him to land safely. He did it. He managed to do it. "I did it! Thank you Onaga Sensei! I did it, finally." He said with a look of exhaustion after the last one. He quickly waved goodbye to everyone before heading home. He was too exhausted for anything else today. That was the end of the day they met.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

~The beginning of the Second Day~

Yoshitsune and Joshua would be given their orders early that morning. They were to report to the Library for their rotation. It was to be a lecture on the nature of souls and Zanpakutou held by a Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell PhD MD ZD (Doctorate of Zanpakutou). As the class settled into the library that had been set up in particular for this lecture with a large pulpit and many chairs, they would notice just how old Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell PhD MD ZD appeared to be. He looked like he was ancient, even by Shinigami standards, probably nearing his fourth millennium or so. His physical appearance was well over that of a hundred year old man.

"Greetings, class of... what year is it again? Nevermind that. I am Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell PhD MD ZD. I have been teaching this special class for longer than you all have been alive. Probably older than you all combined, as I've been teaching it for over a millennium." For an old man, he seemed surprisingly clear of mind, despite not knowing what year it was. That was for the best, probably, that he was clear minded, since this lecture could get seriously out of hand if he was easily distracted or forgetful. But for now, he seemed rather fine upstairs. He paused for a second to let it sit in just how long he had been teaching this class, then moved on.

"We'll start with the primer on Shinigami and why they are necessary. Please do not fall asleep or you will miss valuable information... Now, the job of the Shinigami..." He began to lecture for the next half hour on the job of the Shinigami. How it was their position to ferry souls across the worlds divide to keep the balance between the living world and the Soul Society. All information that the class had no doubt heard a million times during their four years so far at the Shino Academy. There wasn't much special in that first half hour.

"Now, talk among yourselves for a moment. What would the worlds be like without Shinigami?"

[joshua]

Joshua woke up to another dawn. It was early in the morning, too early for the sun to be up yet. Joshua made the habit of getting up this early. It gave him time to fully wake up and stay focused for the day. He started with some physical drills, push ups, sit ups, and pull ups. He had gotten used to those exercises, especially due to the harsh training just the day before. He worked up a good amount of sweat and he was refreshed from the work out.

Next on his agenda was reiatsu training. He implemented it into his schedule that very morning, due to the drills the day before. He gathered Reiatsu into his hand and formed a sphere of glowing and bright energy. His control had gotten drastically better in the drills yesterday and he had to keep himself sharp. He managed to change the size of the sphere, and the number of the spheres at will. Once he was satisfied, he would do one more thing.

He was going to practice his advanced air ground technique. He remembered how fast Yoshi managed to learn this and he was interested to see if he could catch up or surpass him. He would go outside to the nearest home with a tall wall. His goal was to reach the roof without touching the wall at all. He would run from around 30 feet away and he would jump diagonally towards the wall. He reached the apex of his jump at around five or six feet in the air and quickly released the reiatsu that he gathered in his feet. He pushed off of the air itself and launched himself upwards another four or five feet, allowing him to land on the roof. He climbed down afterwards.

The sun was rising now and he had to get ready for school. He quickly took a shower and got ready for another day of school. He run towards the Academy, ready to learn more about the Shinigami. He wondered if he would have as much fun as he did yesterday. He arrived early and sat in class in his assigned seat. No one was there yet and he was just tapping his foot impatiently. He did not like waiting but he could not do anything about it.

After a few minutes, more and more people arrived, slowly filling up the library. Once Yoshi entered, Joshua would show him an empty seat right next to him. They were partners after all. "Morning, partner. Feeling better today, or is your body still sore?" He asked with a chuckle. The teacher was about to arrive so he sat up straight and prepared to listen and learn. 

The teacher was old, much older than he expected anyone could be. He seemed wise and filled with knowledge, although his age had caught up to him a little bit. He did not remember what the year was. Joshua was fine though, as long as he was able to teach, he was already a good teacher. Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell, PhD, MD, ZD, was a great teacher in that regard. He went into a lecture that would be long and winding but overall, interesting. Many students were slacking off and sleeping in class but Joshua was paying attention and copying notes. 

The teacher would then ask that they discuss among themselves about the worlds without the shinigami. Joshua had never thought of that before. He imagined what he would feel like if hollows would kill innocents left and right without a force to stop them. He shuddered at the thought of the murder and the chaos.

"I think that the living world and the spiritual world would be extremely different without the shinigami. Think of the countless living that would die, and all the souls that are left wandering in the living world, just waiting to become a hollow. Think of all the tortured souls that became hollows that can never be purified and returned to their true forms. I cannot imagine it. It would be so bad." He said with a somber tone and expression. He truly felt this way about the duty and role of the shinigami and he hated the prospect of their disappearance. 

[Okura Yoshitsune]

Yoshitsune's morning was a rough one indeed, awaking on the floor after a day of enough training to put a guy in the hospital. He certainly felt like it too, whatever muscle soreness and exhaustion had overtaken him the previous day left him barely capable of standing for the first couple hours, which he usually spent getting ready for the day. Finally, after wasting all that precious time he'd reserved for doing anything, he would pry himself up off the floor with whatever strength he could muster without crying and applied some good old-fashioned shower-in-a-can spray, just some cologne spray to cover up his lack of bath smell. He was glad he wasn't in his sweats from the previous day, because if he'd had to get dressed, he'd have probably had to call off.

Something was driving him to move, something he hadn't felt in his lifetime. It was the knowledge that it wasn't just his career on the line here, he had a partner who was, against all possible forms of career-minded logic, relying on him. He couldn't just quit after learning a neat trick and surrender his shot, not if it meant surrendering Joshua's shot as well. This force of will was what was driving him to push himself forth. Before heading out, he grabbed a kendo bokken he'd been given for practice in his free time. While he'd basically surrendered the very concept of being a winner in a kendo match altogether, the wooden instrument would be given a new, if a tad impromptu purpose: A walking stick. As sore and tired as he was, he was worried that he'd fall with no ability to get up, asides frivolous use of the new technique he'd learned.

So, bearing his weight upon the bokken when he felt woozy, he made his way to the Library. There was an empty seat next to his partner, who appeared characteristically early for class. Yoshi had taken note of Joshua's go-getting demeanor, so he'd figured he'd be showing up early to everything. It appeared that he'd been saved a seat, and he respectfully took the saved seat. Of course, all the while he looked like he'd been hit by a truck this morning, and smelled like the truck plowed him through an entire factory of Old Spice-body spray. As he responded to the friendly greeting of his partner, it also sounded like he'd inhaled said body spray for several minutes on account of a dry throat giving him a raspy voice, albeit he spoke (mostly) in jest, "How's it going, Joshua? Life is pain."

The teacher for the class on this day was goddamn ancient. Yoshitsune couldn't even fathom how many shinigami this man would have been responsible for teaching in these last days of class. The history of shinigami, their job as what were essentially ferrymen to the heaven that was Soul Society, the saviors of souls. Something about that thought made him shudder slightly, perhaps the scale at which Shinigami were supposed to operate on. Slaying hollows was just an everyday thing for them, but from what he'd learned about the monsters in Hollow-ology class, or whatever that was called, he was outclassed even by the freshest hollows, most likely.

No... it was the thought that cutting someone in half was mercy in the greater scope of things. These Zanpakutou were supposed to be a tool for purifying souls and sending them to Soul Society. Such a weapon turned even cold blooded murderers, people who should be sent to hell for their violent natures, into saints that mercifully sent people to heaven and absolved those sins performed as monsters in the afterlife. It was a sacred device, it was no wonder the shinigami were so protective of its secrets.

Of course this was all stuff he'd read about in library books, but just hearing about the job of a shinigami brought all this information to mind.

Suddenly there was quiet, people were considering what the world would be like without Shinigami. Yoshi would ponder it himself, though Joshua spoke up pretty quickly, as though thinking out loud. 'People that couldn't go to Soul Society, who would become hollows' in effect. This thought didn't even include the number of people that wouldn't even make it that far, and become hollow food. How many would die from direct assaults by hollows, what kinds of species would still exist if the Shinigami didn't eradicate them? Would other races have picked up the slack, humans perhaps learning to defend themselves and purify hollows on their own or even capture and tame them as additional work force or perhaps even entertainment? Suddenly his thought process took him to interesting places, an excellent what-if simulation. After all, humans always were the most excellent in regards to evolving to survive and prosper, it was why they were at the top of the food chain without so much as natural in-born claws.

Soon class would continue without him piping up in regards to the conundrum, and he was glad for such, as his thoughts would have been enough to earn him a reputation as a freak. Plus a guy with that many degrees and that much experience could probably read minds, so speaking was certainly not necessary.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell, PhD MD ZD offered no congratulations, no commentary, no correction to the ramblings of the class. He simply sat there, as if asleep standing up, while the class talked among themselves for a few minutes. After a short while, once everyone seemed to quiet down with nothing else really to say, he began to speak up again. "Without Shinigami, the worlds would be chaos and the balance would fall apart. Quincy would run about unchecked, destroying souls that they deem "inferior". Hollows would gain nearly uncontested power, leveling entire civilizations at times to gain enough power to evolve. Quincy and Hollows, though, might balance each other..."

Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell, PhD MD ZD paused for a moment. What was he about to suggest? He had already mentioned that Quincy and Hollows might be able to balance each other even though the balance of the worlds would be thrown off potentially. However, he had introduced an entirely new concept to the conversation. A world without Shinigami that was mostly fine. "With the exception of Hell and Fullbringers, the majority of the other spiritual entities of the world are the fault of Shinigami. Bount, Mod Souls, Arrancar... They all were created by or are Shinigami in part. If we had never existed, many of the problems that we face today would never have been. Even so, talk among yourselves. Where is the good in being a Shinigami?"

That was... treason, wasn't it? Or was it just a clever test of their devotion to the job...

[Okura Yoshitsune]

The teacher would allow the class to ramble amongst themselves for a while before returning to his lecture. It appeared that his take on reality without shinigami was similar to Yoshitsune's own in a manner, which brought up the question to him that seemed to be almost personally directed at him. The shinigami in training looked at the teacher with a somewhat surprised look, was he actually capable of reading minds? He would look away a moment and think about it, the real question, what good was there in being a shinigami. To most people it was simple, the good was in the law and order, resuming the cycle, defending souls that could not otherwise defend themselves.

But there was the thing, his initial analysis seemed to purposely misinterpret something: Hollows and Quincy would not balance eachother out. In fact, the fact of the matter was that with the Quincy around, if the Shinigami disappeared right this day, the cycle would be annihilated in an instant. Hollows kill people, make more hollows, Quincies kill hollows and remove their souls from the cycle, and eventually no new life is made. It would truly come down to the non-quincy humans to take it from there, it was the only hope for survival in that case.

In conceptualizing this answer, he would speak up as well, "The good in being a Shinigami lies in the means we have to complete our job. Quincies destroy souls, and humans cannot typically purify. Without Shinigami, the cycle of souls would most likely be messed up, as we are the only ones who can purify a hollow and recycle the souls of the deceased through use of the Zanpakuto, sending them to and from Soul Society. If there were no Shinigami, there would only be death, the hell that is becoming a hollow, and the hell that is non-existence... And I suppose legitimate actual Hell as well. In fact, who is to say that without Shinigami there would even be human society anymore? What if they all just died and had no ability to recycle, just being eradicated one way or another?"

Suddenly all that rambling gave him a headache, or maybe it was just the muscle soreness. He would slump over and look at Joshua a moment, "What do you think?" His tone of voice conveyed both a lack of hydration and genuine curiosity for his partner's thoughts on the matter. This was the kind of information he would need if he was going to work well with him in the future. It was a thought provoking question, one worth looking into. A sharp mind was always willing to look into a subject that challenged it. Yoshi was more than willing to do away with the typical 'moral high ground' mindset and think about the questions functionally. Solid facts were the requisite for a real analysis, opinions would shroud the truth. The teacher's question was designed to pick out those who could put their opinions aside and analyze the facts, and those who would place their bias on the table and think no further.

Neither was wrong by virtue of origin, Shinigami were, as it stood, a necessity for the Worlds, but the level of thought was different. The difference between people who want to do the job and the people who understand the job. Then again, Yoshitsune was a strictly average if not woefully inadequate student in terms of the actual requisites for the job in question, so perhaps his thoughts were just as inept as his kendo skills.

[joshua]

He looked at his partner to hear about his thoughts on the matter. He noticed that he was in deep thought, reflecting on the question given to them. He decided not to bother him with it, maybe his thoughts on the matter weren't very appropriate to talk about or possibly he just didn't have one. He just grinned at his partner before turning to face the other Shinigami around them. Maybe one of them would share their thoughts.

Suddenly, the professor spoke up with another point of view. He stated that the Quincy in the human world would be enough to balance out the Hollows being created in the world. Joshua was shocked. He didn't expect the professor to say something like that out loud, especially with this being the Academy to train Shinigami. However, he had his own personal views and Joshua respected him.

Personally, Joshua didn't accept this. There would be no more cycle between the Soul Society and the Human World. That was the whole point. Joshua believed that the Shinigami were more shephards than warriors, sent to guide the flock of lost sheep to the field to live in. The sheep were all the souls of the dead, lost and left to wander or sent directly to hell. That would be an utter waste of the light and goodness within the people. His face showed clear distaste in the idea.

The professor had some good points, with the creation of the Arrancar, Bounts, and Mod Souls, but that was not a reason to quit. The Hollows alone would wreak havoc in the Human world without end, and the Hollows would probably find another way to evolve without the Shinigami influencing them. He felt so strongly about this and he looked over to his partner to say his thoughts. 

Joshua was surprised to hear most of his thoughts being said by his partner and he smiled brightly. He then asked what he thought of it. Joshua smirked. "I guess I did find the right partner. I was thinking about that too. I completely agree with you.  Don't forget that the Quincy would eventually get overrun by the Hollows though. Especially considering that everytime one of them dies, they would just become another Hollow. The risks of the Shinigami being around is one we will have to take to keep the balance and the cycle working properly." He said with a confident smile. He brought his fist up and gestured for a fist bump, he thought they deserved it for working together on this. He trusted his partner with confidence. He no longer saw the class loser or the class clown, but a partner and a friend. 

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell, PhD. MD. ZD. gave a small little clap of congratulations. One of the students had hit the nail right on the head. "Yes, it is the Zanpakutou that sets us apart. The purification of souls. You've said it quite well, young one. So, these magical weapons of the Shinigami, the Zanpakutou, that set us apart from the Quincy of the living world and from the rest of the spiritual races. Without them, we truly are lacking. Without them, we cannot do our jobs. Without them, we cannot balance the Worlds. Without them, we are of no use to the Soul King."

Getting down from his podium, with the use of a long cane, he moved to the middle of the room where all the chairs were. "This cane holds my Zanpakutou. It has been with me for many millennia. And boy, have we had our share of arguments. Fights, even. But she has been by my side regardless." As he pulled up a chair to sit in, he drew the long, well polished blade from its wooden sheathe. Even in his old age, he still took immaculate care of the blade. "I am about to use a very complex spiritual ability. Watch closely." He ran his hand over the flat of the blade as the room filled with the reiatsu that he was summoning forth from his body and consuming.

In a flash of light, he had Projected his Zanpakutou Spirit into the room using the advanced ability Spiritual Projection. The red haired woman now in front of them had a long white coat that transformed at the bottom into the appearance of butterfly wings. She wore a gold-trimmed black mask over her face to obscure her eyes, but she wore a pleasant smile. "Ah, another class of young, bright eyed students. Oh, Art, they look great this year." Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell, PhD. MD. ZD. could only chuckle at the use of the nickname that she had given him instead of his full name with all of his titles.

"Please take this opportunity to ask her any questions you have of Zanpakutou and of their Spirits."

SPOILER: Click to show

{Zan Spirit Image}

[Okura Yoshitsune]

It appeared that his partner was actually pretty much on the same page with him, which was good. He'd taken Joshua for a bit of a justice-fiend, who would claim that the good in being a shinigami lied in their sense of justice. However, Yoshitsune was mistaken, it turned out that his partner was pretty intellectual as well. Of course, he was being super friendly about his agreement which sort of made the shinigami-in-training believe that he was just trying to make him feel better. Still, when offered a fist bump, one does not leave a bro hanging: The class-clown would raise his own fist level with that of his partner's and dapped the shit outta him. Certainly this fist bump would qualify amongst the most decent in all of storytelling.

Further, it turned out that not only was Joshua satisfied with Yoshitsune's answer, it turned out that it was the right answer. What set Shinigami apart, what made them good as compared to, say, a Fullbringer or a Quincy, was in fact their ability to carry out the cycle of Souls by use of the Zanpakuto. Thinking about it, the how could he have possibly been wrong, that's what this class was supposed to be about: The history of Shinigami and Zanpakuto, their duty to serve as the protectors of the cycle and the Soul King. Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell PhD. MD. ZD. seemed to light up a bit, as much as a shinigami of such extensive time in service to the Soul King could light up, anyhow, and expressed his congratulations on finding the answer amidst the negativity.

He would then continue his lecture by revealing the location of his Zanpakuto being in his cane. He sat himself down, possibly because he couldn't stand without his cane anymore, or at least it wasn't worth the effort if he wasn't dropping a hollow, and unsheathed a perfectly pristine blade, it appeared to be a standard swordstick though containing a deceptively long blade. Suddenly the room filled with crushing spiritual energy, even from a totally non-aggressive reiatsu flood from the technique he was doing being cast, he felt himself being suffocated by the density of it compared to his own. The feeling only lasted for a brief few seconds as the technique completed itself.

Yoshi would lurch forward and lay his head on his desk momentarily. He considered asking to go to the nurse's office, the muscle soreness paired with simply being near an advanced technique being cast, was almost too much to bear. However, he gritted his teeth and sat himself back up, looking at the result of the technique: A new individual was in the classroom. She spoke rather courteously of the class to one she referred to as 'Art'. As the reknown class clown he was he couldn't help but to poke a bit of fun, "I bet you say that about all the classes."

Nevertheless the class was granted the option to ask her some questions, Yoshitsune would raise his hand an wait to be called on. After being selected he would speak up, provided nobody else asked the question, "Obviously a lot of people are interested in how you came into being, or about the process that forges the Asauchi, however I've got a more pertinent question that I hope you can answer. What exactly about Zanpakuto allows them to purify Hollows and send Plus souls to Soul Society? The simple fact that they do it is proof enough of the ability, but what I want to know is "Why do they do it?"" He would then wait patiently for an answer to his question, resting his hands with interlocked fingers on the desk before him, his face curious and showing that he was serious about his question, in case it was a dumb question.

[joshua]

Joshua smiled brightly when Yoshi returned the fist bump. It was a sign of true friendship and camaraderie. Truly, the most important fist bump in all of storytelling. Yoshi and Joshua were really bonding as friends, and as partners. They even had similar views on this topic. Joshua smiled, thinking about the great partners they would make in the future, after they graduate of course. 

He shook the thought of the future away as he refocused on the lesson at hand. Apparently, Professor Mister Doctor Doctor Doctor Arthur Caldwell PhD MD ZD agreed with Yoshi's answer as well. Zanpakutou were the real reason that Shinigami were so special and important to the Soul Society, to the cycle of souls, to the souls themselves, and to the Soul King. These weapons were so much more than just tools of war. They purified and saved, they helped people. They continue to protect people. Joshua can't wait for his chance to protect.

The Professor unsheathed his Zanpakutou, which was hidden inside his cane. He started talking about his zanpakutou, something that has been with him for all the millennia he has lived. His zanpakutou has been a constant ally and friend to him. He sat down and showed it off to all of his students. Suddenly, Joshua started suffocating a bit. The air seemed hard to inhale and it was dense and thick. Joshua almost fell to the ground with the intensity that lasted only a few seconds.

He looked up and suddenly noticed a bright light appear out of nowhere. He shielded his eyes and when he opened them again, a woman appeared in front of the class. She had bright red hair and she wore a white dress. She had a green ribbon tying her hair and some sort of metal blindfold covering her eyes. She seemed very young yet she has to be as old as the Professor himself if they were partners for so long. 

She complimented the class and her partner asked if anyone had questions. Yoshi had a question. He was the first to ask. He asked how zanpakutou can purify souls and why they did it in the first place. It was an interesting question that he did not think of. Once that question was answered though, he had another question for the pair. "My question is, how do you unlock your Asauchi and find your partner? I've heard that it was when your zanpakutou deems you worthy of its true name but how do you know if you are worthy?" Joshua asked with curiousity. He wasn't sure if it was a stupid question though, so he bit his lip a bit in preparation.