Rescue! Into the Scorpion's Den! [DP, R]

[Chiku Unoji]

It didn't take long for Chiku to grasp his request, then making her way back to that clearing, a sort of forest being the area chosen. She did not really blame the man for his choice, but she did lament. She usually did not like using her powers in such places. With a soft little grunt, she narrowed her eyes at the man, those blind pupils scanning around before she gave a roll of her shoulders. It seemed like a win win whichever way it went. Before we begin... this is a bit of a skewed deal. Some food is hardly equal to a full alliance. If I win then in addition to the food. I wish that you would heal my eyes."

Once he agreed, the two would square off, and she would take a nice, slow breath, eyeing the man as he seemed to wait for her to come to him. The greatest asset she had was that he was exposed. He had shown off his own physical capabilities, but because of all her time underground, she had given away nothing about how strong or fast she was. She was huge and she seemed like a slow creature, which was not the case in the slightest. She was incredibly fast, but more than that she had an amazing ability to react.

She considered her options. She did not know if she would be able to dig down normally. She may very well have to just get into it. She took a nice, slow deep breath, before suddenly steam spilled from every inch of her body, her eyes narrowing as she stared directly at the man. Suddenly her body BULKED up!That armor of hers darkened, going pitch black. Two long lines of spikes sprouting along either side of her spine as she grew enormous, now a towerign eighteen feet tall as she stared down the shinigami. Her tail creaking as spikes grew out all around it's length.

And of course, her power took effect. Instantly, all of the ground beneath her, within three meters of any part of her body, which was fairly wide considering how big she was, began breaking down, turning into sand, in addition, she seemed to be practically bleeding sand, special vents that had opened up in her body gushed it out, and Shokan would see that sand begin literally eating away at her surroundings, the sand acting like a corrosive, blackening and chomping through trees near her as it began consuming her surroundings because of the ridiculously high salt content.

Takng a deep breath, Chiku let out a tremendous ROAR as sand suddenly BURST from every pore in her armor, and suddenly her entire body was swallowed up by a tremendous cyclone, a literal tornado of that corrosive sand bursting as it formed around her body, a towering thirty meters high, that Tornado began tearing ferociously in Shokan direction, speeding towards him as it shredded the area around it, the ground in it's path dissolving into sand as that corrosive salt ate away at everything it came into contact with. Of course if Shokan intended to run, he would have quite a time, that tornado would travel no less than twenty meters before it finally dissapated.

But of course, she didn't expect it to hit him. He was fast, and she herself was more concerned with her own tactics. If Shokan managed to avoid that tornado, he would find that Chiku was gone, nothing but a hole where she had been moments before, a hole lined with compressed sand. chiku had dug down at a tremendous speed. Because of her ability which turned her surroundings into sand, her holes were automatically reinforced, leaving the area around her tunnels completely undisturbed as she dug much faster, actually digging much faster than she was able to physically move as she began rapidlyspeeding toward Shokan's location, intent on observing him as he dealt with that tornado, curious to see how he would try to deal with her powers.

-250 Reiatsu for Yaseishin class 5
Release post: 1/3

SPOILER: Click to show

{Abilities Demonstrated}
Desert Heart

There is an incredibly high amount of Salt in Chiku's body, a result of absorbing it through the soil that she digs through using special pits in her carapace which can drain the nutrients and salt from rock or dirt that is within 3 meters of her body,not only turning it to sand, but also generating her own sand from her body. This sand has a durability equal to her Strength. As a secondary result of this process, Chiku is capable of tunneling through the ground quickly and without disturbing the earth around where she is digging as the sand she generates artificially fortifies the tunnels she has dug, because of this, Chiku can dig at a speed equal to 125% her normal running speed, and gains stealth when doing so. When stealthed while digging, Chiku cannot be sensed without at least 150 senses/ES (increased by 100 per point in Stealth, reduced by 100 per point in Anti-stealth from the enemy).



Grit Storm

Using the salt in her body, Chiku can generate sand and can even expel it from her body using special vents in her carapace as well as her mouth. Using these vents, Chiku can unleash powerful blasts of sand in the form of small cyclones as both air and sand are expelled from her body due to the spiral shape of these vents. At this class, only moderate sized cyclones can be generated, at most up to 6 meters wide and 30 meters tall, the cyclones will travel a maximum of 20 meters before dispersing. Additionally, these expulsions of sand are generated from a secondary circulatory system, which contains all of the salt and nutrients that Chiku drags in. This is accomplished by special organs in her body which take the contents of the blood and separate the nutrients and water from the salt and other wastes. As a result, whenever Chku vents sand, she also vents poisons and other negative effects from outside sources that are afflicting her body. Normal sand cyclones have no cost, however if she is separating non-reiatsu poison or negative effects from her body, it costs 100 reiatsu. however the source of the effect cannot have more than simple superiority to Chiku's highest offensive stat (101 to her 100) or else it will fail.



Consuming Sands

Because of the massive amounts of salt in the sand that Chiku produces, whenever it comes into contact with a foreign substance it exhibits extreme hydrophilia, draining and sucking water from whatever it makes contact with, or any fluid for that matter. This process makes the sand incredibly corrosive, eating through materials and living things at a rate of 1 meter per post. Against beings with spiritual pressure, this is reduced significantly, eating down to the muscle in one post, down to the bone in 2 posts, and through bone in three posts. The salt content depends on the strength of the valves in Chiku's body that condense the salt into sand, and as such the corrosive strength of her sand scales with her strength, doubling the rate at which her sand eats through materials if she has at least 50% stat superiority, and halving the speed if the target has 50% stat superiority.

Chiku's speed while digging: 407
Stealth Break Requirements: (150 +200 from Stealth skill) = 350 Senses/ES Req.

[Shōkan Kawada Ⅺ]

Shōkan wasn't sure how to deal with the tornado moving towards him, but judging by the rapid destruction of everything that sand touched, it probably wasn't a good idea to stick around. He had learned from his last fight with Chikusha, she liked to stay underground, and assault her enemies from completely defended positions. This was a hard counter to Shōkan's style of combat, he used his superior physical prowess and skill to utterly dominate his opponents in the close range battle, and used his raw power to tank or dodge abilities from afar.

In this case, he wasn't going to be able to reach her, so he did the only thing he could, using his superior speed, he bypassed the tornado coming towards him, moving diagnally backwards, away from the sand storm. He didn't have to do so for very long, seeing as the tornado dissippated after going 20 meters. However, that still left him with nowhere to go, and no way to find his enemy. Shōkan took matters into his own hands, he leapt up to the top branch of a tree, but didn't even pause on it, using the springy branch as a springboard to throw him even higher in the air than his usual strength allowed him to, a truly massive height.

Once Shōkan was at the peak of his jump, he looked down, for that breathless moment at the apex, where one felt that gravity had no effect on them. It was a timeless instant, and looking down at the clearing, Shōkan couldn't help but admire it's natural beauty, despite the sand methodically eating away at it, it still retained a rugged landscape the resonated with nature... To bad Shōkan was going to have to utterly destroy it. Coming down from the apex of his jump, Shōkan moved his leg into a scissoring motion, into what look like a high heel drop kick.

It looked like he was intending to land this kick upon the center of the clearing. To Shōkan, this would be the most vulnerable area. Even if she wasn't there, she assuredly had already created tunnels into the area, further weakening the soil. If he knew her as he thought he did, she'd have tunneled thoroughly throughout the terrain up to this point. The instant before Shōkan's heel kick hit the clearing, two things happened, Shōkan thought 'Kazaguruma!' and he unleashed his full might, the kick's power increased an almost ridiculous amount, it would spread through the ground, shattering and demolishing it reverbrating with [1378.125] force.

The moment it made contact, white flames would dance around Shōkan, and a heatwave would spread throughout the area with a fwoosh. If Chikusha was within twenty yards of him, she would begin to feel a heat beating onto her, from his aura of Honō-Haraikiyome. at the distance of twenty yards it wouldn't be too bad, it would feel like the otherwise mild spring day had turned to the height of summer, especially underground, where it was normally cool. Due to her strength of will, she would be able to ignore the actual pain of this white fire (if she was close enough to feel any at all), but only for a short time, and not the actual damage.

The sheer force of Shōkan's kick, ought to demolish any tunnels she was currently in, due to them weakening the overall structure of the clearing. This would hopefully damage her, or at least force her to come to the surface. If she was close enough, his dancing white flames would begin to take a toll on her as well. Shōkan didn't really want to go all out like this, but he didn't really have much of a choice. She was just such a hard counter to his style, he had to use all of his force to overcome her. in truth, she should take it as a compliment.


Kenpachi Unleashed: 1/3

SPOILER: Click to show

{Techniques Used}Technique Name: Kazaguruma [Proficient]
Class: 3
Technique Type: Hakuda
Usable By: Shinigami
Technique Element: N/A

Technique Description and Effects: This Hakuda technique starts off by the user getting their body up into the air and then making a shearing movement with the legs to get one leg in front of the other without holding on to the ground. The user then brings their leg downwards at an incredible speed carrying with it the maximum amount of strength possible due to the leg having been over the user's own head. This technique normally looks nothing more than a high heel drop kick yet the impact strength of the kick is 75% higher than the strength of the user making it a devastating technique which normally is taken lightly. When this technique is mastered it can be done sideways in the air as well.

How to use technique: Jump into the air raise one leg up high and then kick downwards.

Technique Drawbacks: Requires a 2 in Hakuda. Requires 400 Speed after type. This technique although easy to execute is actually a risk to use. If the force of the technique is halted the force of the technique will reverberate throughout the leg that was used to kick causing massive internal damage.

Made By: Unknown Shinigami
Reserved: No


Shōkan's overall ability is named Honō-Haraikiyome, or, Purifying Flame, in honor of his lost zanpakuto. His power is simple, yet incredibly powerful. It is heat based, and because of it, opponents find it becomes harder and harder to fight Shōkan the longer the fight lasts. Personally, Shōkan believes that his bond with his zanpakuto was so strong that even when lost forever, it imprinted on him, because his reitsu's overall ability is fire based like his former zanpakuto's. However, that's enough speculation, let us delve into this power of his shall we?

To put it simply, an aread of 20 yards around Shōkan is affected by Honō-Haraikiyome at any given time, when the situation arises however, he can reign in his reitsu somewhat and limit it to 10 yards. In this area, heat is generated by Shōkan's reitsu. The closer you get to him, the more intense it becomes; at its fring of 20-15 yards, its simply that of a hot summers day 90 degrees, at this distance it is somewhat uncomfortable, and the victim will begin sweating due to the heat. At 14-10 yards, the heat is increased even more to a record hot summer day, at this distance, the victim will begin sweating even more, causing distractions from it, and mild sunburns are easily gained after a few posts. At 9-5 yards, the heat is cranked up to that of an intense desert at mid-day, the victim will begin sweating prfusely, the bodily fluids slackening their grip on their weapon and getting in their eyes. Intense sunburns and heat exhastion are also symptoms caused from any significant time in this area.

Finally, at 4-2 yards, any time spent in this area longer than a few seconds immediately creates mild burns to the victim, and the heat becomes unbearable for those without significant points in certain skills. The final level of this ability is 1 yard to skin contact with Shōkan. By this point, Shōkan's enemy will see the pure white flames dancing around his heels. At this distance, immediate and severe burns will appear on the body, and skin contact will burn the victim to the bone. This makes Shōkan extremely dangerous in close quarters. There are several ways to counter this ability however.

Points in Heat tolerance ecan mitigate these effects, 1 point reducing them by 20%, 2 by 35%, and 3 by 50%. Points in Strength of Will can allow the victim to ignore the pain for 1 post per point, it should be noted that this does not apply to the closest ranges of this ability, as the damage will still be present. Points in battle focus or a similar ability will have the same effect. Also, this ability is based on Shōkan's RS. If someone has 75% of his RS, they ignore 25% of the effects. If they have equal to his RS, they ignore 50% of the effects, if they have 25% more than him, they ignore 75% of the effects, and if they have more than 50% more, they ignore it altogether. One of the drawbacks of this ability is that it effects EVERYONE surrounding Shōkan, even comrades, and he can only reign it in by 10 yards in combat while keeping it active, otherwise, it is either off or on.

Also, for a huge expenditure of 500 reitsu, Shōkan can overcharge Honō-Haraikiyome, sending white flames in every direction for the 20 yards (or 10) surrounding him, these flames have the same effect as touching Shōkan's bare skin, horrible beyond 3rd degree burns anywhere they touch. These flames can be countered in the same way as the standard form of this ability. As you can see, Shōkan's overall ability is devastatingly powerful.

[Chiku Unoji]

Chiku was fairly deep when that kick slammed into the very center of the battlefield. Of course, when he had leapt up in the first place she had frowned, deciding that at the very least she should burrow. He had used that stupid bit of wood to try and get off the ground before, With her own rather incredible senses, she saw him as the noises bounced around, or at least the blurry outline of him when he shouted, bathing himself in sound and giving her a distant sensory image of him as he plummeted toward the ground.

She of course dug down deep in preparation as the earth above her burst, breaking apart the surface and collapsing a number of her tunnels up above, so that when he actually cracked the ground there was an initial collapse, and then a secondary collapse as a massive section she had been tunneling out suddenly lost support, causing him to suddenly fall several feet as the ground beneath him became rough and uneven, broken apart by his attack, making it much harder to try and push off of it.

She began to approach him, but as she got to the surface she did immediately recognize that this motherfucker was pumping out a tremendous ammount of heat. She immediately retreated, backpedaling and frowning as she constructed a single, long tunnel. She collapsed the other exits, making it so that she was essentially in one long barrel about 15 meters in length in a diagonal line from herself to him. She was in the very outter edges of him and his ridiculous ability. But this was fine for her anyway. Because she took a deep breath. There was.... about two meters of earth between her tunnel and the surface pointed at Shokan, and anywhere from twenty to eeighty meters of dirt in any other direction that would serve as an outlet.

With a deep breath, she didn't bother roaring, but instead simply vented. Unleashing a tornado inside the confines of that sube, and suddenly, what should have been a 6 meter wide, 30 meter tall cyclone was constrained to a width of about 3 meters and only about 10 meters long. Almost instantaniously, the little 'cap' pointed at Shokan exploded, unleashing a beam of not only that powerful shredding wind and abrasiv sand, but also the corrosive aspect of the sand itself. Not only that, but some of the sand that got within close contact of his body would melt, fusing together into glass, or otherwise just sticking to his body in molten form.

The sheer force of that popgun-style attack rocked the area as a shockwave burst outward, harlmessly, but enough to shake the trees as that compressed air burst out a bit further than the typical height of the cyclone thanks to its pressurization in the little tunnel chamber. With this, Chiku aimed to not only cause an enormous draft, rapifly cooling the area around Shokan as cool air was repeatedly pulled into his viscinity, blowing away his flame as soon as it was formed, but also hopefully throwing him a considerable distance into the air, hopefully to slam into a tree as her corrosive sand would, if all went well, begin eating through his clothing and flesh, not to mention the mroe delicate areas if the sand managed to get into any nooks and crannies.

Meanwhile in the ground, Chiku began tunneling back down, away from the heat, if by some act of nobletry Shokan had somehow noticed her stealthy attack, or had simply had found some way to anchor himself to the ground. In any case she did begin considering her options. The heat was a pain in her ass, and she needed to consider her options. The collapsing trap was a strong move, but she didn't think it would ever work on him again. She needed to eradicate the trees, but even in exchange for her eyes being healed, that was a bit of a tall price. What was she to do? As great as her defense was that didn't mean that she was perfectly safe. In fact as if to directly defy that very notion, she still was iritated from being that close to begin with.

Being a scorpion she literally did not have sweat glands, she relied on a form of panting in which she rapidly ventilated through the air holes in her body. The lack of a traditional respiratory tract did save her from slimy sweat, not to mention the salty sand would have absorbed it anyway, but it did mean that she had a harder time feeling dizzy, as hyperventilating to vent heat did have it's own adverse effects. Now, back to what to do... Unlike the shinigami, she had vietually no special abilities or techniques outside of her release.

True, her release was tremendous and had a good amount of utility, but that still didn't change the fact that he had a much larger pool of abilities to draw from no doubt. She almost wished she were a shinigami. But in any case she was a little kerfuckled at the moment. She did consider turning the entire field into an 80 meter sinkhole. Then he'd HAVE to come down to fight her. But then she'd be sniping from the walls with her tornados and that seemed a little no bueno. Maybe a taunt? She sucked at insulting people. Deep down in the ground she frowned, and rubbed her chin. Shit, she had her release ticking away. The fuck was she going to do...

Yaseishin post 2/3

[Shōkan Kawada Ⅺ]

As the sheer power of Shōkan's kick hit the ground, it buckled and broke, creating a gigantic crater that spanned the entire clearing. It was at least fifty feet deep, and would, at the very least lessen the earth in-between himself and Chikusha. To keep himself from falling into the crater, Shōkan simply used a small bit of hoho called Ashibumi Daichi, which for a small expedinture of reitsu created a visible panel of energy beneath his feet, holding him up. At the same time, Shōkan swept an eagle eye at the bottom of the crater, searching for a visible sign of where Chikusha might have gotten off to due to the change in terrain.

Luckily for him, since his gaze was already at the bottom of the crater, Shōkan was able to see the explosion of sand the moment it appeared. Due to the distance between himself, high above the bottom of the crater, and the explosion point, Shōkan was able to react in time to the sand beams appearance. Swiping his sword in a diagonal slice, Shōkan used one of the Kawada clan's more useful techniques. It was created to combat cero, and other forms of non-solid attacks, it could cut through liquid, energy, even air and gases. Of which, as not a solid substance, the tornado of wind and sand would be affected. Shōkan silently thought the name of this famed technique in his mind as he struck.

'Kyohaku!' The tornado would immediately be perfectly split, and part past on either side of him. Due to the fact that Shōkan had actually thought the name of his hakuda technique earlier, instead of shouting it-a smart move considering his opponents blind senses- Chikusha would have far less time to delve down into the earth, and would be close to the surface as such. Additionally, since she had just launched that tornado at him, Shōkan knew the approximate area she was at. Shōkan used this, so that immediately after her grit storm, Shōkan dashed with a shunpo towards the tunnel the sand had been expelled from with all of his impressive speed. Upon arriving near the mouth of the opening, Shōkan lashed out with a might punch smashing at the edge of the tunnel closest to him.

This punch was infused with all of Shōkan's mighty strength, and he even put in the effort to send out shockwaves of raw power through the earth. This created yet another large crater, although it was maybe a quarter the size of the previous one, that was still a rather large crater, reaching perhaps 15 feet down, and 25 feet in diameter. The most important part was that, even if she managed to absorb the raw might of the initial destruction, the shockwaves of power from his mighty punch would reverbrate through the earth all around. While these might not pack the punch of a normal shockwave due to being spread out through the earth, they would still pack more than enough power to cause the scorpion woman quite a bit of internal damage.

And this was if- again- she even managed to somehow weasel her way out of the initial impact of the punch. All the while, the closing of the distance would crank up the heat on her exponentially, possibly even burning her if she were close enough. Shōkan was-to his knowledge- the most powerful unseated officer in the Soul Society. in all honesty, he could have take the rank of third seat by this point, and could certainly fight on par, and possibly even defeat several Vice-Captains. His raw might and speed, by theselves, were definitely in the highest tier. Part of Shōkan's motive in showcasing this might were to show Chikusha the power he possesed. He wanted to show her that he could, defeat her without a doubt. And additionally, show her what kind of ally he possesed. Because this was not the limit of Shōkan's strength. If this was his power as an unseated officer, then just how mighty would he be as a Captain?

-75 reitsu Ashibumi Daichi
-50 reitsu Shunpo

875/1000 reitsu remaining

2/3 Kenpachi Unleashed

[Chiku Unoji]

He fucking dodged it. The sound of the man's breathing, though exerted, remained calm. Unpained. She had superb hearing, not quite ridiculous. She could not sense his heartbeat, not quite. But she could sense any external noises. Pick out his general state. And he did not sound injured, and it infuriated her. The shinigami had been circumventing every single attack she'd thrown at him since the very start of this fight.

The use of some sort of splitting slash on her Cyclone caught her by surprise, but not too much surprise, as the ingenuity of shinigami had been her bane for the better part of a year now, if a shinigami hadn't managed to annoy her in a fight she might have wondered if they were truly a shinigami at all. That said, the cyclone, while split, would maintain it's rotational force, tather than simply jutting to both sides, that massive rush of sand would a, continue to spin after being split, and b, continue to expulse massive ammounts of sand.

While that twisting wind was by no means unavoidable given the now spal-shaped cleft cut into it, the sand was another matter. No less than three cyclones had transpired by this point, and though the fight had occurred in quick succession, by now every inch of th ebattlefield would have signs of erosion as sand at this point would, from earlier cyclones, begin raining from the sky after having been thrown up into the air. Though this would be a fairly light sprinkling of that salty sand, even so, reasonably, at least some part of Arashi's body would have gotten soe sand on it, esecially given that he had used that technique to cleave the cyclone going straight at him as opposed to a proper dodge. A technique which explicitly did not stop motion, but simply diverted it, thus the cyclone would maintain rotational energy, even if it was slit into two while doing it.

The wings certainly would have been avoided, but that didn't mean buttloads of sand wouldn't be splashing him, and subsequently eating tiny holes into his clothing/skin/hairgel. But that wasn't likely going to be enough to stop whatever the hell he did next. As his own mind fired off his actions, powering through whatever plan he had in his head, it occurred to Chiku that there may very well be a reason. Shinigami rarely tanked or blocked her abilities, at last not unless they had a fairly considerable rebuttal planned. So when Shokan executed his move, an innate sense of deja vu kicked in HARD. There was something up this beam-splitting barista's sleeves.

And for perhaps the first time in a long time, Chiku did something she had frankly never pulled off in her life. She had always known the technique, her kind, contrary to their strifes and difficulties at some point managed to learn it. Stolen as it were. She used a shunpo, instantly closing the gap between herself and Shokan and then some, landing slightly behind him, her spiritual pressure suppressed. And at this distance she had a much clearer idea of what he was doing. The question was whether or not he would notice her behind him. She was a stealthy being, for all of her bulk, and she had moved in the very wake of a howling sand cyclone. His reflexes, at least by her measure, did not match her own. That said, he was a fair bit faster than her.

In Any case, as he launched that punch to the tunnel where she had been but moments before, that tail snaked out, contrary to the absolute blistering burn that enshrouded her entire body. He had been hot before, but those flames were all the more intense now. That pain was intense, very very intense. But she kept herself calm. She willed herself forward, and with a considerable ammount of determination, aimed to plant her tail into the Kawada's ankle. Even in the midst of her attack, she knew better than to execute this particular attack on ANY part of the victim's body that was vital.

Once that stinger sank into flesh, assuming Shokan did not have some sort of defense r other means to circumvent her sacrificial attack, Chiku's stinger would pulse and inject a potent burst of venom directly into the man's foot as she herself would....likely fall, depending on how large the reishi platform was beneath him. Unlike him, she did not have a reishi plat tech to keep herself in the air, at least not in soul society. So at the end of her attack, she would likely drop down to the earth, smoldering as that tough armor of hers would resist the flames, but still the heat would no doubt be destroying her muscles. Not to mention whatever attack he sent after her.

If she managed to land that sting, then at the very least, the flesh on his foot would be no bueno, and no doubt in a while, chunks of flesh would be falling off. A bit extreme for a spar, admittedly. But she had been focused on at least proving herself dangerous. Shokan had been batting her attacks away like a childs, and frankly had been showing off as though she were an absolute joke and of no threat to him in the slightest. She hadn't landed anything. She had, at the very least, hoped to show him that she was dangerous. Though....with her luck, something probably prevented her sting. One she had half-cooked herself to try and get off.

She would hit the ground hard, regardless of anything Shokan did, and that would be that. She was in agony from being that close to the blazing shinigami, and even with her calm mind and force of will, it was still very unpleasant. And certainly, she was in no mood to continue. In a childish sort of sense, she hated him. Just as a childish woman like Chiku hated anyone who beat them. But this was not just because she had lost. But because she realized just how endangered her family was. And the fact that they were not safe. She had thought they would be. She had done everything she could to do so.

She had taken them to some remote off-site area of the rukongai. Kept EVERYONE and ANYONE from getting near them. And yet. Here they were. Here she was. Smoldering, and with bitter tears in her eyes as she lay on the ground, her body shrinking back down to normal size as she hunched over and wrapped her arms and tail around herself. She was a failure. In much the same ways she had been when everything had started going wrong. And just like before, she couldn't exactly blame them, but her problms had revolved around shinigami.

The soft noise of footsteps did catch her, and no doubt Shokan's attention as the tiny little woman known as Ajora sprinted onto the battlefield, and with a static crackle, the tall man from down below appeared up in the sky not that far from Shokan, a calm look on those features as they stood on the air itself and spoke. "This fight is concluded. You win Shinigami." Came that calm, emotionless voice. The fight was over. And after all.

What was it the americans said? "A Deal's a Deal."

Would track reiatsu but well, fight's over.

[Shōkan Kawada Ⅺ]

As Shōkan split the sand beam, and consequently diverted the majority of the sand, a bit still hit him, and began to corrode his arms and chest where it landed. It wasn't a lot, but it hurt fiercely despite this, and he was sure that before too much longer it would begin having a serious effect on him. However, as before, he kept sharp eye out from where the tornado came from, in the hopes of a rapid counter attack, in an instant, Shōkan saw the tunnel that Chikusha had used to create her ingenuitive attack, and prepared himself to shunpo across the distance to keep up the pressure.

Before he could do so however, Shōkan's gaze wavered, was that a flicker of movement in the tunnel? What could it have been? And suddenly, Shōkan's years of experience, and supernatural instincts screamed at him. Danger from behind. What his unconsious mind had picked up, was to connect the dots between the flicker, and the use of a step technique. As well as the large discplacement of air behind him, due to her huge frame, a slight breeze and flicker of the flames surrounding him. The biggest thing however, was just her sheer size, combined with the fact that she was somehow cramming onto a platform barely big enough for him. It would be a sad sad day indeed if Shōkan wasn't able to detect such a presence.

This, combined with the crackle of Chikusha's flesh being burned and sloughed away by the incredible heat of being near him, all alerted Shōkan to her presence. Unfortunately, Shōkan just didn't have the reaction speed necessary to do anything about it, he simply wouldn't be able to move in time to dodge, or even block. So, Shōkan did the only thing he could. He flexed all the muscles of his body behind him, hardening them to the point of invulnerability. His quick actions were rewarded when he felt the stinger of her tail simply scrap against his ankle, burning it to a crisp in the process. He saw her fall off of the small platform as she succumbed to her wounds from merely being in his proximity.

Shōkan made no move to finish her off. This wasn't a battle where Shōkan was looking to demolish his foe. Shōkan was making a point. He already knew the potential Chikusha could one day wield. He wanted her abilities to be on the side of the Kawada Clan. And if this meant Occaisionally aiding a few of her family with food and resources, with aid? Shōkan had these things in spades. But he also wanted to make one thing very clear. Shōkan could, and would, destroy her if she threatened what he loved. If she thought to betray him. This alliance wasn't entirely equal actually.

Shōkan gained the power of a reasonably skilled, not to mention stealthy, warrior. Th Kawada Clan needed personel more than anything else right now. Chikusha gained stability for her family. She gained the backing of one of the great noble families. She gained the ability to go to sleep at night and not fear for her families safety. But most importantly, she gained Shōkan's protection. If he had made one thing clear today at all, it wasn't his strength, it wasn't his power. It was the lengths he would go to, to protect those under his care.

He even went to the lengths of diplomacy, almost unheard of among the haughty shinigami. Shōkan had pride, in himself, and his clan. But he threw that away when it mattered. He had made that decision long ago when he returned to the Soul Society and found the remains of what was once the Great Kawada Clan. He made that decision when he vowed to avenge, and find redemption for them. He would do anything to bring his family back. To keep them safe. And that was something he thought he might have in common with Chikusha. He jumped down from the reitsu platform down to her smoking form, sealing his power again as he did so and she spoke.

Shōkan panted a bit, and showed signs of strain, going all out like that was exhausting. Bits of sand covered his chest and arms, and it had dissolved parts of his clothing, it hadn't been on there long enough to do much damage, but it was still painful, though with a force of will, Shōkan stood up straight and presented a solid front. His piercing gaze reached that of of Chikusha's. He spoke, "It would appear so." His gaze softened, and his natural bright aura and leadership abilities came to the forefront. "You'll have the food you need within the week, and... I have an offer for you."

"The Kawada Clan has quite a bit of land... How you you like to makea den there? Safe from outside interference, and a steady supply of anything you might need? Of course, you'll have to aid in defense of your home, like any other." Shōkan had shown his strength, putting him in a strong position, but then showed generosity in giving her the food she needed anyway. After all, it didn't matter that much to him, Shōkan was much more interested in creating lasting bonds that might aid the both of them in the future. Chikusha needed an ally to help protect her and her family, and, well... Shōkan needed the exact same thing.

"As far as healing your eyes, I don't have any ability in that regard, however, I'm sure I can find a member of Squad 4 willing to aid you. The only matter would be a price, and in that regard... I'll pay it. The only thing I ask of you is loyalty in return for loyalty. I protect my own, and I'd ask the same of you. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep your family safe, and in return, I ask only that you do the same, aid me and my family." Chikusha would be severly burned, and probably in a lot of pain, Shōkan would give her a few minutes to think about his offer. In the mean time, he went over to the wounded shinigami, inquiring if they thought they were ready to return to the seireitei.

[Chiku Unoji]

Ajora, Subida and Jice got to work and it becam rather apparent that the group's lingering wounds were a result of their...limited ability to heal. The majority of the actual damage was healed, however, whatever technque they were using was obviously meant as an emergency ability for combat, something to keep a soldier going but not heal them completely. Once they were done, Chiku's flesh was still riddled with burn scars and the like, giving her a bit of a grizzled look she hadn't had before.

Ajora gave Shokan a bit of a frown, when...well... she noticed that none of his wounds had been serious enough to actually heal. She did however get him a wet towel so that he woucl wipe the sand off of himself. It wouldn't kill him, but that didn't mean it wouldn't eat through his flesh if left on his skin. All the while, Chiku frowned slightly. She did not like the way the deal was worded. Loyalty. She could understand protecting the land, but his specifics about loyalty left her...uneasy. She did not enjoy the idea of having to support the shinigami, regardless as to what they decided to get themselves into.

That was what had landed them in trouble in the first place with the Unoji. Chiku was very uncomfortable, but... she did know that it was what was best for the girls.... "I agree. But you will only have my Loyalty. I do not want my family being dragged into your fights and your matters. I will protect your land, and will die for it if need be. But if that happens, my Family stays, and you do not drag them into the mess. Understood?" She growled, very clearly not intent on these conditions.

And....after several moments, she tapped her pincers, lightly clicking her claws for a moment before again, she spoke. "Also. I do not need your direct assistance. But I do have a question...." She murmured. It was somethign she had been considering for a while. IT was nothing she could have done before, but... At this point, with these new accommodations... it would actually be possible. "Do they accept my kind... to be Shinigami?"

[Johnwaluigi]

Chiku: 67 paragraphs + Draw TP: +720 TP

Shokan: 50 paragraphs + Draw TP: +550 TP

As this was a DP thread, this counts as 2 threads towards your next SKP. Please pay for the healing of injuries in your respective healing threads.