Back in Action [Joint Training | R | NDE | Permission]

[Deleted]

Training for TTP

That sound. That god awful sound was playing again. That continuous, annoying, horrible sound was playing to the right of his head. A million voices in his head demanded he hit the snooze button, to remain hidden from the word beneath his two warm blankets. His eyelids put up such a fight with their refusal to be opened, struggling as hard as they could to hold themselves together. But they failed. They failed like they did every morning. Everything was a blur for only a moment before details became clear. The sight of red flashing numbers was the first thing that he saw. The screaming alarm clock resting on the floor near his head, demanding that he wake up and begin his day.

Head dug into his pillow, the young man stared slack jawed at the alarm clock. Everything was becoming clear as he lifted his arm up and slammed it down on top of the clock, shutting it off. "...Fuuuuuugghh" he managed to moan, hiding his face in his pillow for a moment. He knew that if he didn't move he would, without a doubt, fall back asleep. Getting up at six in the morning was rough, something that he just never seemed to get used to. Pushing up with both his arms, the young man sat up on his futon, staring out his patio door at the building adjacent to his for a few moments. Grumbling to himself, the young man got on his feet, rubbing his eyes to try and wipe away the sleepiness. Walking forward he felt his toes collide with the bowl from that he had left out after dinner.

The cup, quite literally, flew forward and collided with the wall. The combination of Luke’s strength and impact with the wall caused the bowl to shatter into tiny pieces. Luke stood, quiet, staring at what he had just done. ”Good job stupid.” one of the three voices in his head said, sarcastically, as Luke grumbled to himself. He’d pick that up later. ”Morning Luke.” another voice said, far less annoying than the first. Yeah...morning. Is Springflut still sleeping? Luke asked as he made his way to the bathroom and peeling off the sleep shorts and t-shirt he had worn in bed.

”Does Amy Schumer suck off ten guys a day? If the answer isn’t ‘yes’ then you’re wrong.” Jäger joked as Luke did his morning business on the toilet, turning on the shower as he sat to let the water warm up. Flushing the toilet he stepped into the shower, wasting no time with both wetting and cleaning his body. White suds followed behind his hand as he rubbed the soap into his skin, leaving no inch of himself unscrubbed.

The bar of soap found itself being dragged across a developed abdomen, leaving behind a trail of small bubbles as it traveled around the young mans hard body. Placing the bar on the little hook apparatus, he grabbed the bar of shampoo and squirted some of the gel in his hand. Scrubbing it into his hair he took a minute to enjoy the warmth of the water, letting the shampoo settle into his hair before scrubbing it out. Once finished with cleaning he turned the nozzle, ending the spray of water against his skin. Reaching through the side of the curtain he grabbed onto the fuzzy purple towel and began drying himself off.

How long did I sleep? Luke asked, busy sticking the towel in his ear trying to clean it out. Once dry he hung it back up, stepping towards the bathrooms mirror and wiping the condensation from the glass. Looking into the glass he could see himself looking back. ”Three hours. I think the extra sleep was needed though.” Windstarke commented. Being a Bount meant that Luke didn’t need to sleep as long as a normal person. Thanks to Schlafen, Luke generally only needed about an hour or so of sleep to get his full eight hours. Sometimes, though, he wanted to feel like a normal human so he’d let his Technique go on for longer than usual. Finished with shaving and brushing his teeth, Luke finished whatever morning rituals he had left and got himself dressed.

Luke found himself in his kitchen, preparing himself some breakfast. Cracking some eggs into a bowl and mixing in water, salt and pepper, he began mixing them all together after turning on the TV. The channel it was last on was the news channel, same thing Luke always watched. He wasn’t a massive tv watcher, not like he was when he was a kid, but always wanted to know the news. The butter was done being heated, so Luke poured the egg mixture into the pan. ”Thanks Hiroshi. Local city police are still investigating the abandoned truck found that had crashed into an apartment building. No driver has been found, and whatever the truck was carrying looks to be missing. Crates were found broken open and whatever inside gone.”

”What do you think that’s about?” Jäger asked as Luke made his way over to his kotatsu, with his finished omelette on a plate. Placing it down, he returned to the kitchen to get himself one of his bottles of oolong tea. No idea. Didn’t get a call from work so...it’s probably nothing to be concerned about. Luke replied, sitting down at his table and getting to work on his morning meal. Looking down at his half finished omelette, his chewing slowed down as his eyes drifted to a half closed state. ”Springflut, you awake?” Luke asked, his question directed into the further depths of his conscious.

”...what do you want?”

How’re you feeling? Is there an--

”Go away.” Springflut suddenly snapped back before submerging back into the depths and setting up a wall between him and Luke. Oh, well fuck you too. Luke grumbled to himself as he suddenly found himself angrily stabbing his omelette. The other two Dolls were quiet. ”Mom, Dad, can you stop fighting? It’s just making me sooooo hard.” Jäger suddenly said as Luke was busy eating, making him choke for a minute. Jäger’s cackling made it hard to hear Windstarke just sigh. But as they were distracted they failed to notice the change in news report. ”Moving on. Experts have no determined that the catastrophic destruction in the Hatagaya district-” Luke suddenly twitched when he heard that, quickly returning his attention to the TV.

”-was due to a small, localized, earthquake that struck early in the morning while everyone was asleep. Survivors and family members have come together with city officials to create a memorial in memory for everyone that died in this sudden and unpredicted disaster.” The reporter finished with that, adding a variety of pictures of the incident in question and the repairs being done to the district. Luke was quiet as he watched. He lowered his fork at some point to resting on his plate. His eyes were glued to the TV as a blank, thousand yard stare, had become his face. An earthquake huh? That’s what they decided to call it?

Luke could still vividly remember it. Water. Endless water ran through the streets. It smashed through building after building, bringing them down and vanishing beneath the current. The massive structure that the wave had collided with fell down atop others, crushing anyone on the streets or in that buildings path. It was never exact how many died that night. How many were crushed. How many were drowned. Or how many she killed. That woman in white. Luke saw her. Standing in the air. The flood had done nothing to stop her. Reiatsu brimmed around her. Reiatsu stronger than anything he had ever felt before. Stronger than anyone Luke had ever encountered. ”I’m going to leave this city in ruins!” the figure announced before arrows of reiatsu flew from her, striking other buildings like missiles and transforming them into columns of fire. A foe that Luke was entirely powerless against. His enemy.

”Relax!” he suddenly heard Windstarke snap at him. Pulled back to reality he realized that he was suddenly sticky with sweat. The fork in his hand had been bent to a funny angle with how tightly Luke had been squeezing it in his hand. Tch. Luke mentally clicked, placing the ruined fork down and leaning his elbow on the table to rest his forehead against his hand. ”You’re gonna give yourself a stomach ulcer, y’know that right?” Jäger remarked. ”At this rate the guilt’s going to kill you before anyone else does. You need to do something about this.” Windstarke advised as Luke got to his feet to take his dishes to the kitchen. He needed to get going to get to work.

”Thanks for the ride.” Luke said before shutting the door to the cab, watching it head off back into the packed traffic of Karakura’s roads. ”Buy a fucking car.” Turning to look at the skyscraper that Uzaki Enterprise, Luke cracked his neck as he headed inside. Unlike the other people going in, Luke wasn’t wearing a suit. He was wearing jeans and a blue sweater, earning him some looks from busy body types. Walking through the entrance after going up the staircase, Luke entered into the lobby. ”Oh! Good morning Mr. Clyburn.” Luke heard from his right. Turning in the direction of the voice, Luke locked eyes with the smiling receptionist. Approaching the desk, Luke offered a tired smile. ”Morning Amy. Here’s my ID.” he handed over his ID card so he would be checked into the system to show that he was here. Still felt funny that a Senior Employee needed to do this. Ah well.

Entering into the elevator once he was alone, Luke slide his ID card through the reader. After a few seconds, the reader beeped and caused a hidden panel of buttons to reveal themselves in the wall. Pressing the third one from the bottom, Luke stood back and leaned against the wall as he waited for the elevator to deliver him to one of the sub-basements. His job in UE was simple. During the day he trained. He trained to further strengthen and master his still growing abilities. It was at night when Luke would put that training to use. Being a Bount meant he didn’t have access to his full powers during the day.

Lifting his head when the elevator stopped, Luke stepped out of the box once the door slid open. He entered into his prefered training rooms entrance and approached a series of lockers. Sliding his ID card through a specific locker doors card reader, it unlocked to reveal a change of clothes. A grey tank top with some loose shorts. The best stuff to work out in. After changing in a bathroom, Luke stepped out into the training room. It was a pretty standard gym, Various sort of weight lifting and cardio machines for practically every muscle in your body. The room was large enough for someone to do laps around it if they actually wanted to run and not use the treadmills.

As Luke entered the room though, he suddenly realized he wasn’t alone in here. He could feel someone’s reiatsu before he saw them. Blinking with surprise, since he was normally the only one here, Luke let his eyes follow the feeling until he spotted who was there with him. A woman? Surprised, Luke decided to say hi. ”Morning.” Luke said, approaching the woman but keeping a good few meters of distance away. ”Haven’t seen you before. You new?” Luke asked, offering whoever it was a friendly smile.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

Training for CTP

Play This

The day had finally come. After a long, forced, regrettable absence, Yoko Kusanagi was back where she belonged. She walked into the headquarters of Uzaki Enterprises like she owned the joint, only to be stopped from entering the employees only area by a rude little shit at the front desk. ”Excuse me misssss. Can I help you?” It seemed that everyone had already forgotten her. New girl at the front desk. New, mildly concerned looking security goons in the corner. It appears that no one on shift in the lobby worked here a mere three years ago. What a complete and utter shame.

Technically, Yoko had never stopped working for Uzaki Enterprises. Kazura had never formally fired her. She was just on leave until it was deemed appropriate for her to come back. And that time was now. She didn’t want to be any ruder than she needed to be, so she showed her ID badge to the lady behind the counter. The secretary grabbed the plastic card out of the warrior’s hand and examined it more closely. She seemed very interested in all the little details of the card, as if she had never seen one before. Uuuummm… That’s fake.” And that was the moment that Yoko regretted having written so many security protocols. She knew all about the foot activated panic button under that desk, and how it was easy to hit without being noticed by even supernatural senses.

A mere moment later she felt a hand on her shoulder from the mountain of muscle that was on security duty in the lobby. The man was well dressed in an exquisitely tailored suit, but the bald head and the and the wire had made him obvious from the first second Yoko had been in this room. ”You’re gonna have to leave miss. I’d hate to half to ask you twice.” This poor, poor man had made a costly mistake. Without even bothering to look at the man, she calmly threatened him a bit. ”And I would hate to have to ask you to remove your hand from me twice.”

Her attention returned to the woman working the front desk. ”What exactly makes you think it’s fake?” As she asked this, the normal human security guard was trying quite hard to physically drag her back away from the desk, but quite simply lacked the strength to make her budge. Yoko was, at least back in the day, and probably still at this moment, the physically strongest person to work here. Others were her better in other ways, but she had been the reason that they had to reinforce the floor in the weight room several times more than normal. If she didn’t want to move, she wasn’t going to be moved by a normal human.

Realizing the situation she was in, the secretary meekly replied. Mr. Yajuu is in charge of security, and your ID claims that job title. Clearly that makes it a fake. Yoko allowed herself an amused chuckle at the situation she was in. Here she was, being defeated by her own handiwork in setting up good training for even the most basic employees. Kazura had continued to hire people with basic critical thinking skills at least. She was honestly kind of proud right now, which was a weird feeling given the large man tugging on her shoulder. ”Could you please stop that already? It’s clearly not working and you’re making a scene.” A lazy sweeping gesture at the normal folks in the room staring at them made it quite obvious that the security guard, though well intentioned, wasn’t doing Uzaki Enterprises any favors right now.

”And could you,” she moved her gesture over to the woman behind the desk, ”be a dear and just scan the barcode on it? I know I’ve been away for a bit, but I’ll still be in there.” The slightest tinge of annoyance at this situation had broken through the calm attitude she had tried so hard to maintain. Oh well. It was understandable to be annoyed by this at least, so she didn’t beat herself up too much over that. Sure enough, with the barcode on her ID scanned Yoko came right up in the system. Though the Fullbringer couldn’t see it, her job title field was currently invalid and simply stated “Just let her do it,” with Kazura’s authorization on it. She would discover that one later, but apparently it was good enough for the woman to offer a hushed apology for being so rude.

Yoko retrieved her ID from the woman and took a moment to compare herself to the picture on the card. Man, that was kinda old at this point wasn’t it? She was a good deal younger back when that one had been issued, and didn’t have so much of a tan from the desert sun. Oddly enough, she did actually have the exact same outfit on as she did in the photo. A three piece black suit, with her hail pulled back into a simple ponytail. The more things change, the more they stay the same. She pulled lapels to fix the creases in her jacket, and to remove the hand of the security guard from her shoulder.

With that “fun” dealt with, she began her walk over to the elevator. A few quick glances and hand motions were exchanged between the front desk which ended with the large man returning to his spot against the wall that he had originally come from. Well, on the bright side, Yoko had a good face to picture on the punching bag when she got down to the workout room. She did have a pit stop first though, and actually took the elevator up. A quick check-in at Kazura’s office revealed he was out for the whole day, so she unfortunately wouldn’t get to bug him just yet. That would happen sooner or later anyway. Her job had really always just been “do whatever you want for the good of the company” anyway, so it wasn’t like she needed his approval for most things.

With that done, she made her way over to the security room to get an updated badge made. Luckily the staff there was some of the old boys she had recruited still and recognized her immediately. We thought you’d never come back!” "Welcome back Miss Kusanagi! How have you been?” Though the recognition felt good, she wasn’t sure if her sense of humor would go over well with them anymore. ”Ahh, I’ve been busy getting covered in the blood of Her Majesty’s enemies. Sorry for keeping you waiting.” The trio of employees had a chat for a good bit, and caught Yoko up to speed on some of the latest security improvements, but things hit a bit of an awkward snag when they went to print her new ID.

”I’m terribly sorry ma’am, but without direct authorization from the boss you know I can’t actually print your old job title on here right?” A purposefully overexaggerated sigh escaped the former Chief of Security without a second thought. ”I was afraid you were going to say that.” For a good few minutes, they all just stood there in silence. It wasn’t particularly tense, as they all understood the situation, but it was still a painful realization that even the men she had trained didn’t answer to her anymore. Perhaps this was a sign that she needed to start a new chapter of her life, rather than trying to resume an old one?

Several thoughts crossed her mind for what she could do. If she wasn’t the chief, she could still assign herself as Kazura’s personal bodyguard. It would be a demotion, sure, but it would be around 75% of what she used to do anyway. That option was discarded, as she had recognized the name of the new chief from many years ago. Yajuu. She had fought him a long time ago, back when her powers were still new. It was safe to say that they disagreed on quite a few things, but the Fullbringer respected that Shinigami’s fighting talent. Honestly, looking back at it, her current self probably would have treated her past self the same way. Still, she just didn’t see herself working under him.

So what new role could she take? Kazura generally gave her carte blanche as long as she didn’t cause too much collateral damage, so it was more a matter of figuring out what she wanted to do. Eventually she decided to just go back to basics. ”Emergency Response Team. Put that on there.” She didn’t stutter or anything, but making up a new job title on the spot, especially after a minute or two pause, caught her former employee’s off guard. ”Pardon?” The idea was still in it’s infancy, so the former Chief found herself letting her thoughts just spill out as soon as they formed. It was odd for her, as she was typically the type to consider every word carefully.

”Emergency Response Team. The job of security is important to keep Uzaki Enterprises afloat, but what about everyone else? What about the random civilians on the street outside? You’ve both been around long enough to know a little bit about what really goes on here, and I know you both know how strong I am at least. I’m thinking it’s time we make Uzaki Enterprises more of a force for good in this city. No… this world. If I have the strength to protect people, then why can’t I be a bastion of good PR for Kazura by saving kittens stuck in trees and stopping bank robberies?” Of course those two knew better than to question the decision, as it was above their pay grade. ”Whatever you say Miss Kusanagi.”

Not quite the response she was going for, but whatever. Those two didn’t report to her anymore. Hell, no one did. She needed to break back into the swing of things, and that meant a trip down to the gym. She would’ve gone to one of the proper training rooms, but she didn’t see anyone worth fighting when she snuck a peak at the security monitors a few moments ago. Another quick elevator trip later and she found herself alone in the gym that she had spent so many hours in before. Yoko went through a few quick stretches before she got going at it. Even those with superhuman strength could still pull a muscle after all.

Her jacket and vest got tossed to the side for a bit more flexibility, and she laid into some basic forms on one of the training dummies. Sure she had to hold back to not break them, but it was a decent warmup at least. ”Morning. Haven’t seen you around yet.”The voice had seemed to come out of nowhere at first. She had been so into her form that she had somehow failed to notice a second person had arrived at the gym. The momentary distraction came right as she was landing a cross on the dummy. With that little bit of lost focus the poor thing got a bit more force than the Fullbringer intended, and it got slammed into the wall.

Oh well. It didn’t break anything at least. Yoko turned to answer the newcomer after only a slight wince at the display she had put on. ”Yoko Kusanagi. Emergency Response Team. Been… deployed for a bit. You new here?” She danced around the nature of where she had been for the last few years, though she technically hadn’t lied. If this other person could sense reiatsu then he would be able to tell Yoko was a Fullbringer right away. Here in the walls of Uzaki Enterprises she had little fear of prying eyes or running into random villains, so it didn’t hurt to let her power seep out a bit. It wasn’t menacing or anything though, especially given her spiritual stats were abysmal compared to most. If anything she gave off a calm, collected, and even a little cold vibe as she took in this man. She couldn’t sense reiatsu herself to tell who or what he was, but she had the feeling this guy wasn’t completely normal either.

[Deleted]

”Ouch.” Jäger commented in response to seeing what the woman had done to the training dummy. Luke’s eyes trailed back from the dummy to the blonde woman who had turned to face him. Now he understood why her reiatsu was so weak despite the fact that she felt more or less on the same level as him. Just like his Doll Springflut she seemed the kind of person who had completely traded her reiatsu abilities for physical strength. That much Luke gleaned from looking at her. The muscles also clued him in a bit as well. ”Yoko Kusanagi. Emergency Response Team. Been… deployed for a bit. You new here?” she said in response to Luke’s greeting.

Scratching the back of his head, Luke shrugged a little. ”More or less I guess. Only been here I think three months and I’m already a Senior Employee. I’m Luke. Luke Clyburn. You can just call me Luke if you want. Nice to meet you Ms. Kusanagi.” Luke replied, being friendly with his coworker and addressing her in a respectful way. The only person he didn’t address like that was Marcus and that was just because the two were friends. ”Ah, but, sorry for bothering you. I don’t usually see anyone else down here and wanted to say hi. I’ll let you get back to your routines.” neither of them were really here for chit chat. It was clear that both were here for their own reasons. Both wanted to work out.

”She’s got a nice ass.” Jäger commented as Luke turned away to head to his own part of the gym. Can you not? Luke replied back as he rolled his shoulders and made his way over to his preferred weight bench. He wasn’t going to comment much on Yoko’s ass...but rather it was her eyes that caught his attention. They weren’t the sort of eyes a office chick would have. They were the eyes of someone who had seen some shit. A warrior’s intense gaze was what looked back at Luke. While he normally wasn’t the kind of person who liked using weights, Luke didn’t have much choice if he wanted to keep up the amount of Strength he possessed. Granted it’s not like that Strength was earned through natural means.

For a time Luke possessed an Artificial Zanpakuto given to him by Aevus, the Shinigami who taught him how to fight and survive in the Spiritual World. The weapons name was Mūnran'nā, a beautiful glowing sword that Luke relied on in tough times. It was a weapon whose power relied on physical speed and strength and was what had caused Luke’s strength to grow without him even realizing it. The sword actually had a hand in making Luke physically stronger. But now without it he was forced to work out to maintain this physical strength. Though...without it...Luke had found himself to be relying more on the dangerous technique Impact despite the damage it could do to him.

”Do you still regret breaking it?” Windstarke asked, his voice pushing through Luke’s mind like a winter breeze. Sometimes I wish I still had it. But no. I don’t regret doing it. It needed to be done. Luke replied as he grabbed a plate and began to fit it on one end of the bar. ”Isn’t ‘wishing I still had it’ the same thing as regreting it?” Jäger questioned. Nope. Now shut up. Luke replied as he fit another weight on. ”Nope I think you’re wrong. W R O N G.” Luke could just imagine Jäger making Trump hand signs while doing that. So Luke decided to take a page from the POTUS and build a wall, blocking Jäger’s autism out.

Laying down on the bench and reaching upwards to grasp the bar. Letting out a slow breath as he adjusted the grip of his fingers, Luke readied himself to do his sets. Four hundred. That was where Luke felt most comfortable. It was fucking superhuman. Four hundred pounds was pretty much the same weight as a motorcycle. But it was the perfect weight for him to use to keep his Strength up. Exhaling one more time, Luke finally gave a little push to get the bar off its hooks. And, immediately, without warning everything went wrong. Luke’s eyes widened as far as they would go when, despite pushing back, the four hundred pound bar was falling downwards straight for his chest. ”Lift it!” Windstarke shouted before the bar came down on him.

Thankfully Luke was able to push back just enough to avoid critical injury, but it still didn’t stop the bar from coming down on his neck causing the Bount to let out a panicked gag. ”What the fuck are you doing stupid?!” Jäger shouted in panic as Luke ended up kicking in the air a little, trying to get the fucking thing off of him. Grinding his teeth together he quickly calmed himself down just enough to focus and activate Pulley! The mans body became consumed in a sporadic and firey red aura, coupled with darkening his skin a little as the blood inside him pumped faster. Luke’s traditional forehead vein bulged as the Bount put effort into what he was doing.

With the increase in Strength Pulley gave him, Luke was able to lift the set of weights enough to toss them to the side of the bench, causing a few of the plates to come sliding off and rattle and bang across the gym. Gasping for air Luke sat up, touching his neck gingerly as his mind raced to figure out what the hell just happened. Beads of sweat had already formed and dripped down his face as his eyes bounced back and forth from the weights to his hand as he tried to understand what went wrong there.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

Background Music in the Gym

Three months and already a Senior Employee. Kazura sure was handing out the promotions willy nilly nowadays. She’d have to get on his case about that later. Oh well. Maybe this one had… wait a second. Senior Employee was HER rank. That fucker was spiritually aware. The normies didn’t refer to themselves by that rank. They always talked about job titles. She was pretty sure it was literally impossible to achieve that rank without having some sort of spiritual ability. I mean, sure, maybe someone like Kazura could achieve that, but it wouldn’t be possible for just anyone to pull that off, especially not in such a short span of time. She’d have to keep her eyes on this one.

And that was exactly what she did. She pulled the training dummy she had been working on back off the wall after offering a noncommittal grunt and nod in the man’s direction. He was an interesting one, but for now she opted to feign ignorance. Besides, she did have her own routine to get back to. She laid back into the dummy, restricting herself to peak human strength and speed. Even at that, she struggled to keep the thing from sliding around from the force of her blows. Sparring with an inanimate hunk of plastic, rubber, and sand just wasn’t the same as the real thing. Oh well, she’d manage somehow.

While she went through the motions, she kept an eye in Luke’s general direction to see what he was up to. The clinks that echoed through the space as he shoved weight after weight onto the bar helped her keep track. Eight plates total from the sound of it. Just a touch over 400 pounds. Barbells had largely lost usefulness to her, given she could lift anything you could physically put on them with the use of only one hand. Still, that much weight was impressive if this guy was a normal human. It would easily put him around world record pace for his weight group. But that would involve him not practically dropping the bar straight onto his neck.

Stupid fucker almost got himself killed trying to impress a girl. When would the meatheads learn? The Fullbringer stopped in her form and turned to go assist the would-be showoff, but in the end he didn’t quite need her help. Though he didn’t say the name of the technique aloud, Yoko recognized it even without the ability to sense reiatsu. ”Did you really just use pulley on a bench press?” Her tone oozed with so much judgment it would suffice for an entire season of Jersey Shore. He did surprise her a bit by the fact that it gave him enough strength to throw the bar, but he was still an embarrassment with that display.

”You should’ve asked for a spot Luke-chan.” She picked up the weights casually, grabbing plates with a single finger and threading them back onto the bar as easily as a normal human might pick up a spilled cup of pencils. She did catch herself being a bit of a dick with the “chan” though. She wondered if that had been a bit far, but decided that he had earned a bit of admonishment for what he had just done. Either way, once she had all the plates back on the bar she gently deposited said bar back on the pegs of the station that Luke was using.

Even if he had earned the judgment, Yoko knew that she needed to be better than her past self. Not everyone was a soldier through and through. Not everyone knew their limits, and not everyone was experienced enough in a gym to know how to warm up properly. The man had overestimated his strength, and given how long he had been at Uzaki Enterprises, it wouldn’t be surprising if he was fairly new to having superhuman levels of strength. ”You’ll have to forgive me, but it literally pains me to watch people almost kill themselves by trying to show off. As long as your pride isn’t too hurt…” she paused her sentence to rerack a pair of plates from each side of the bar. ”That should be around right for a warmup without resorting to such a dangerous technique.”

Though her words were on the harsh side, it was clear that Yoko was serious when she expressed a desire to not watch Luke guillotine himself with a steel bar. Painful way to go that is. He would probably need a minute to get back to okay after using Pulley so recklessly, but maybe he was one of those types that could take a lot of punishment. She hoped he was. Those ones were more fun to train. So much fun, in fact, that a devilish smile graced her lips as she settled in behind the bar to spot another attempt on the bench press.

While Yoko did have her limits, she expected a lot out of those who worked in the spiritual side of Uzaki Enterprises. This was a test for Luke. A chance for him to redeem himself in Yoko’s eyes. He hadn’t exactly made a good impression so far, but a little bit of grit could offset the earlier failure just fine. Besides, he seemed nice enough, and it wouldn’t be the first time that a guy had tried to impress her with raw strength. It wasn’t the first time that plan had failed miserably either. Obviously this was what Luke had been trying to do, and Yoko couldn’t fathom any other reason he had failed to lift that much weight.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately for Yoko, her judgmental words fell on deaf ears. As the Fullbringer talked and worked on fixing the mess, she might not have noticed that Luke wasn’t reacting to her at all. In fact, the Bount stared fixated at the palm of his raised hand with such intensity and focus that lasers might just shoot out of those muddy browns. The Bount was so entirely focused on himself that he completely failed to notice Yoko approach and even talk to him. What happened? he wondered to himself, going over that fuck up in his head once again. Four hundred pounds was Luke’s regular weight limit. He’d just used that much weight a few days ago when he was here. So why couldn’t he lift it today?

A thought, or suspicion, began creeping its way into the back of his head. Black tendrils of dread reached out from the void and began to sink their way into his conscious thoughts. Could it be happening, he wondered. Worry began creeping its way into his eyes as he thought back to what Taka had said long ago. He remembered the Mod Soul explaining how everything had started for Zan. He’d started off feeling ill, winded, and eventually deteriorated till the point he couldn’t move. Was this the same thing? Was it happening to him too? Was the fact that he did not do as a Bount should and feed on souls finally catching up to him??

”It’s Mūnran'nā's absence.” Springflut, of all things, suddenly said catching the other three by surprise. ”The Zanpakuto? What do you mean?” Windstarke asked for Luke, but shortly after asking the question the Doll actually realized what was happening. ”The weapon gave that idiot some extra strength so he could better use it. Now that borrowed power is leaving. Is it that hard to figure out, you idiots? In other words that Shinigami's influence is finally leaving.” Springflut spat back, causing Windstarke to make a mental “tch” sound. He wasn’t a fan of Springflut referring to him as an idiot. Jäger, however, still had a question. ”So if that’s the case...then why’s it happening now and didn't then when you broke the sword?” it was a good question that nobody had a answer too.

”That should be around right for a warmup without resorting to such a dangerous technique.” Luke suddenly, out of nowhere, heard. The Bount blinked, back in reality, and turned his head to see that Kusanagi had set the bar back up and positioned herself to be a spotter. Luke just...looked at her. Had she been talking to him? What was she doing? The look in his brown eyes should have made it clear to Yoko that he hadn't been paying attention to her at all. He blinked, confused, before deciding to just not worry about it. He had something a lot more pressing on his mind now. ”Excuse me.” He said lowly, standing up and walking away from the bench and Yoko. ”Hey wait, where’re you going? The cute girl is that way! No not that way you dumb fuck that way.” Jäger objected as Luke got his crap from his locker.

Home. I need to figure this out. Luke replied, approaching the elevator and intending to completely blow Yoko off. ”What’re you going to do?” Windstarke asked as the elevator doors opened. Figure this out. he repeated, accidently revealing that he wasn’t really sure what the hell he was going to do. If he was finally losing the superhuman strength he had acquired then he was going to have to figure out a way to either reobtain it or...nah, Luke was gonna figure this out privately.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

Well that was… something. Maybe Yoko was too hard on the guy. Nah, she had paid pretty close attention to him and it was pretty obvious he was lost in his own mind. His eyes seemed to be focused off into the distance. It wasn't too hard to put together what was bugging him. He hadn't been trying to impress Yoko, but rather he didn't seem to understand why he was having trouble with that much weight. It wasn't a sensation that Yoko was used to, given she hadn't had problems with lifting things in a long time, but that was neither here nor there. Clearly the man was bothered by this.

Though she didn't understand the situation fully, it was pretty clear that something was wrong with Luke. He had tried, and failed, a single rep. That was it. With barely any time in the gym he excused himself and left. She didn't think it was embarrassment either, given that his face hadn't lit up bright red or anything. No, this was clearly a much bigger issue than the Fullbringer initially gave it credit for. There was a lot more going on under the surface that she didn’t know about. But that said, she had literally just met the man and didn't pursue it further. Not immediately at least.

For the time being, Yoko just shrugged and went back to her own routine. She finished up her forms and put in some bodyweight work as well. For her it wasn't about strength as much as skill and balance. At this point her physical conditioning consisted mostly bad ideas she had gotten from watching too much Dragonball, with things like weighted situps while hanging from a bar or doing handstand push-ups while trying to balance on just one finger per hand. She had the strength to do it all just fine, but no matter how many times she practiced those movements it was tricky to keep them fluid.

After her workout was finished, she went about the rest of her day as normally as she could. It wasn't really what she called normal anymore though. ‘Being back at Uzaki Enterprises honestly felt weird. She hadn't seen any of the old guard. Marcus, Iwamichi, or even Kazura were nowhere to be seen. She tried not to let it bother her too much, but now that she wasn't in charge of security she struggled to find her place in the organization, and honestly wasn't sure what to do with her idle time. Back in the day she could have idly stared at the camera banks, or given people nasty looks in the lobby, but that wasn't her job anymore. What in the world was she supposed to do with herself?

In the end Yoko decided her time was best spent playing catch-up for now. She did some reading and research about the changes that had happened since she'd been gone. No one had revoked her old access levels, so she still had the ability to read up on all the old mission reports. Uzaki Enterprises had been through some interesting trials since she had been deployed, but it was nothing too out of the ordinary. As she read through the reports, her thoughts kept drifting back towards the man she had met in the gym that morning. It wasn't like she was worried about him or anything, but if that Luke guy was gonna potentially have her back in upcoming battles then she wanted to make sure he got over whatever was eating away at him.

_____

After she had run out of reports to read, Yoko headed out for the day. By that point it was already well past sundown. She stopped off for some food at a convenience store. Lord had she ever missed those. While she waited for them to heat up her sandwich she found her thoughts had drifted back to Luke once more. She had gone back and forth on the idea of checking on him a few times, and had even gone so far as to pull his address out of the computer system back at the office. It wasn't like her to be so concerned about someone else’s problems, but she had a feeling that ignoring them would somehow end in her getting herself killed.

Yeah, she was definitely just being selfish and 100% wasn't actually worried about him as a person. Deny it however much she liked, Yoko found herself over at the door to Luke’s apartment with a six pack in hand a dozen minutes later. She tried to be polite by knocking, but she overestimated the strength of the door a bit and kinda punched it open. A quick sigh escaped her as she realized she still needed to work on holding back. Oh well. For now she walked into the apartment uninvited holding the six pack out in front of her, with one beer already missing and in her hand.

”Have a drink. Tell me what happened earlier.” It wasn't a request. It wasn't a greeting. Yoko had issued orders. She was still very much in a military mindset and likely came off as borderline insane by busting into the house and demanding Luke answer her curiosity. No matter how much Yoko tried, she was just abysmal and handling situations like this. It wasn’t that she was incapable of empathy or anything, but she just wasn’t good at these kinds of things. She always found a way to mess them up, and she was certainly off to a great start this time. No doubt Luke would be either running for the hills or attacking her any moment.

[Deleted]

It was quiet in his small apartment. After leaving Uzaki’s the Bount had made one quick stop at a hardware store before arriving at his apartment. Sitting on the table in front of him was a length of chain links. Luke had wanted an additional test before he would be certain that the Strength given to him was now leaving. Normally he’d have been able to pull those chains apart after exerting his full strength, but now he couldn’t do that at all. Luke was now entirely convinced that he was growing weaker. Gracie’s bell collar jingled a bit as she raised her head to look at Luke, purring slightly before laying back down in her bed and going back to sleep.

Sitting on his futon sofa, Luke had leaned forward on his knees. His eyes closed and face scrunched with focus, it was obvious that the Bount was in deep thought. He was thinking about a critical matter with such focus that any distraction might actually cause his focus to snap and make him forget everything he’d just contemplated. But what was the striving hero thinking so hard about? The answer was simple; himself. Luke was busy contemplating his own fighting style, techniques and powers, and his recent realization of his own weaknesses. He came here to find the weakness in his abilities and train to fix them. But before he could understand what needed fixing he needed to understand what about him was broken.

Self reflection was the first step. So Luke had simply sat there. For two hours he remained seated as he focused on his thoughts. It might have seemed like he was asleep, but that was simple because the Bount hadn’t moved at all. He’d been that focused. It was thanks to him reflecting on all his experiences, the training he had gone through, the fights he had survived, the advice he had been given by others, that Luke began to see the flaw in his own design. Threading the needle through everything Luke could remember about everything he had been through, he began to see the underlying cause to his sudden weakness. That weakness had a name; Aevus.

Though, let’s clarify something for a moment. This wasn’t Aevus’s fault. This was Luke’s own fault. But Luke realized that Aevus was the cause for his ineptitude lately in battle and now even his vanishing strength. ”So you can carry that sword and wave it around, pretending to be a Shinigami. But you’ll always be just like that blade if you do. A fake, a pretender trying to play hero. So be the real thing Luke. Show me your resolve. Prove it to me. Prove that you’re willing to sacrifice everything you are and could be for anothers tomorrow.” He could still remember, in perfect detail, that last night with Aevus.

What Aevus had told him was something that he thought he had listened to. Aevus, that night, had told Luke that he was merely pretending to be a Shinigami. He was pretending to be something he couldn’t be instead of accepting and embracing what he really was. Luke, in that moment, had taken the first step to rectifying that issue...but failed to take another one. The Artifical Zanpakuto, Mūnran'nā, was the power that Luke relied on rather than his own power. The power inside that sword had affected Luke’s body, changing and developing him into something more suited to using its power. Increased Spiritual Pressure and heightened Strength. But after destroying the Zanpakuto to prove his commitment to himself and Aevus, Luke had been left stagnant.

He was still trying to use the same style and methods that he did when he used Mūnran'nā. He was still pretending to be a Shinigami. He realized further that he was still pretending to be Aevus. Weapon generation, Step Technique reliance and Speed boosting, and still not relying on his very own powers. Realizing this caused Luke to frown. If he was going to improve and become strong enough to face the threats down the line and become a hero, he was going to have to break the mold and develop himself into something new. But now that he knew where his weakness began, he needed to get a better idea where he needed to head. After so much time spent sitting and thinking, Luke began to realize where he needed to develop. He needed to strengthen his-

Without any warning at all his front door was suddenly bashed in. With how focused he was and her relatively low reiatsu stats, Yoko was able to sneak up on his apartment without him being aware. Really poor show on someone with Energy Sensory and proficient Anti-Stealth training. Well, Yoko got herself a proper response. When his door was suddenly bashed in the Bount instinctively moved, lunging from his seat and rushing towards the doorway hallway. A million questions rushed through his head as reiatsu pulled towards his hand, mixing together with the air to begin creating a Air Arsenal Panel. But when he saw who it was he stopped, blinking with surprise.

”Kusanagi? What the fuck are—“ Luke began to ask, via shouting, when a jingle and a meow stole his attention away. A blur of gray and the jingle of bells shot past his legs, heading straight for Yoko. ”Shit shit move!” Luke snapped at Yoko, quickly diving down and snatching up the little fur ball trying to escape out the newly opened door. Lifting his cat into his arms, Luke frowned at Gracie before frowning at Yoko. ”Move. If she gets out she’ll get hit by a car.” Luke grumbled, putting Gracie in the bathroom and closing the door before turning towards his front door to make sure the fucking thing could still close.

”You better not have broke my fucking door.” Luke grumbled, messing with his door to make sure it could shut. ”What? What the hell are you doing here? How did you even...why do you have beer??” Granted, he did just completely ignore Yoko’s demands. Granted, Yoko did just break in his door so she deserved to be yelled at a little over it. ”The booty comes calling for you.” Jager decided to joke. The bathroom door rattled a bit as the cat jumped up and down behind the door trying to open it.

Now inside his apartment, Yoko would notice how...small it was. His apartment was, literally, only three rooms not counting the hallway. You come in through the front door and immediately to the right was the bathroom with the upset cat in it. Directly after the bathroom was the kitchen, with a opening in the wall to see into the actual living room. Against one wall was a futon folded into the sofa state and a okay tv in the corner. For someone working at UE, where the pay was enough to set someone for life it looked as though Luke lived rather homely.

”Good.” Luke commented when the door actually shut, locked, and could be opened without much hassle. With that much more important matter settled, the Bount spun around and practically glared at the home intruder who was still in his apartment. ”What? Why’re you here?” Luke finally, actually, asked her rather than rambling while pissed. Yeah, he was still pissed but now actually focusing on Yoko. Reaching to his right he opened the bathroom door, letting Gracie out who immediately began running around the pairs legs before trotting off to her bed in the living room.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

How… civilian. Many thoughts trailed through the Fullbringer’s mind as she listened to the man prattle on and on about such boring topics like his flimsy little door and an ill behaved cat. His general life being in such disorder made it clear why he was having so many problems. Mastery of the self was the first step to success in all things, and he was clearly struggling to get past that stage. As a master of Kunlun, Yoko was well versed in self reflection and meditation. There was quite simply no way she would fail to notice someone whose soul was in such chaos, especially after the display earlier at the gym.

Her analysis of the situation was not in Luke’s favor. She knew what he made. She knew how strong he was supposed to be. Yeah, she’d read all those reports as well. This was what Yoko did with her life. Knowledge was the lifeblood of survival. Without information, it was impossible to make good decisions on the battlefield. For that purpose she had read every single combat report submitted since she had been gone, and re-read the old ones as well for good measure. Luke should be much stronger than she was originally giving him credit for, and yet here he was, in a tiny apartment, with a door practically made out of paper. She had a lot of work to do on him.

Objections were handwaved away. A beer was tossed at the, honestly understandably so, angry man. She was kind enough to at least toss it underhand at a normal human strength and speed so as to avoid killing him. ”Quit whining. Have a drink.” She waited for the objection to come, and ignored it if it did. She had tried to be “friendly” at first in her mind, but clearly Luke just wanted the objective truth out of her. That was fine. The truth was that she was there to help, even if he wasn’t going to like the part about her judging him to be a little bitch. Oh well, that was his problem to deal with by proving her wrong.

”In the near future, my life will likely depend on you. I read your file. All of it. Every report you’ve ever written.” She gave that a moment to sink in. No doubt Luke was going to start yelling about how that was an invasion of privacy or something. ”My job is to keep Karakura, and Uzaki Enterprises within it, safe. Doing that properly involves ensuring that everyone who has the power to fight a threat is capable of doing so to the best of their ability. If something is bothering you to the point that you cannot lift weights, I intend to fix it before it gets one or both of us killed.”

There were a lot of things fucked up with what Yoko said and did. The way she handled things was very spartan and unemotional. She had detected a problem, and it was her job to fix it. The words she spoke were true in her mind. Luke’s momentary weakness could easily mean death on the battlefield against a dangerous opponent, and that was unacceptable. Given all the time she spent in the military, her course of action made sense to her. “Shut up, drink, tell me why you’re a bitch,” was just a Tuesday night for her. It seems that sometimes she just forgot how to handle civilians. They didn’t respond as well to such a direct method.

The Fullbringer made her way over to the fridge in the kitchen and stored the rest of the six pack away to keep it nice and cool. ”Now that you know why I’m here, and that it’s not just to beat up your door, drink up. You clearly need it with how tense you are.” As always, she waited for an objection before she continued. One was likely, but he was visibly tense. No doubt it was because she had burst into his apartment uninvited, but she was going to keep ignoring that being a problem. ”Tell me what’s got you so bothered. Did you get your ass kicked? Somehow got problems with money? Or maybe you just need to get laid?”

[Deleted]

Quickly raising his arm up the palm of his hand intercepted the can that was tossed at him. Frowning, Luke lowered his gaze for a moment to look at his newly acquired beer before returning his attention to the home intruder. He certainly wasn’t too happy having his valid complaints and questions referred to as whining, but whatever. Yoko began explaining her reasons for being here, disappointing Jäger when the Doll realized that this wasn’t a booty call. ”But...but I wanted to see that tight p-””Jäger, shut up and listen!” Windstarke abruptly said, interrupting the crass Doll.

Luke certainly blinked when Yoko revealed that she had not just read Luke’s file, but every single report that he had put out. Okay, the second part wasn’t that surprising. Anyone working at Uzaki’s should have been reading the reports from their fellow employees. The network of information in U.E. was one of its best features. The information gained by one person during a battle could save another's life. Luke also took the time to go over the others reports especially since it was possible any one of the other employees could come into hostile contact with the Vandenreich. But what surprised Luke was that Yoko saw his file. Were they actually allowed to do that? Luke actually didn’t know if he could look at the other employees files. Maybe it was something unique only to Kusanagi?

Luke had a mixture of emotions moving around in his stomach. If Yoko had read his file, then that meant that the Fullbringer knew what Luke was. The Bount was hoping that that wouldn’t be brought up. He really didn’t want to have that sort of conversation. But since Yoko said that she had read every report that Luke had done, it meant that the woman would have had to know about Luke’s encounters with the Vandenreich. As she continued to explain, things really began to come clear. Luke needed to remember that Kazura had a habit of hiring rather...eccentric individuals.

She was here because she was worried about him after what happened at the gym. As the Fullbringer made her way into his kitchen to put away the beer, the Bount couldn’t help but grumble to himself as he made his own way into his living room. Why did this have to happen now? Popping the top on the can, Luke lifted the beer to his mouth and gulped down a couple mouthfuls. ”Are you actually drinking?” Windstarke asked almost incredulously. Yup. He was going to need to drink to deal with this. But what anger he had towards Yoko had begun to vanish. While he was certainly pissed that she had barged into his apartment and business, the fact that she was there out of concern was enough for the Bount to forgive her a bit. Sure, it wasn’t out of friendliness. She explained her motives as being purely concerned about a job well done...but how many people would go out of their way to do what she was doing? Luke could appreciate that.

”What? No, no, it’s nothing like that.” Luke answered, giving Yoko a incredulous look when she offered her own questions. ”Unless he sticks his dick into a radiated fleshlight I don’t think getting laid is gonna help our sad, sad, virgin hero.” Jäger joked, as if replying to Yoko despite the fact she wouldn’t be able to hear him. ”Fuckin let me out I wanna Hulu and whoohoo!” Jäger continued to be ignored. Returning to his sofa and sitting down, Luke debated how he was going to answer Yoko’s question. ”Honesty is probably the best choice.” Windstarke suggested. ”She looks moody and irrational. You might get decked if you don’t tell her the truth.” Oh, okay, thanks.

Taking another swig from the can, Luke still felt a bit awkward. He really was not the sort of person to dump his problems on people. Letting his eyes drift to his patio and to the city past that, Luke decided to just be a little bit clear. ”I’m losing my strength. My physical strength, anyways.” Luke explained, being a bit vague, before motioning to the chain links sitting on his table. ”Just the other day I could pull that apart if I used my full strength. Or, hell, I could lift four hundred pounds as a regular workout.” He took another drink from his can, finishing it off surprisingly quick. Fuck he liked beer too much. ”Before I joined up with Uzaki’s a...uh...mmm...I guess friend of mine gave me a Zanpakuto. The sword gave me some power and now that the sword is gone I’m finally losing that power.” Luke explained, resting his arms on his legs as he did so.

Scratching the back of his head and being quiet for a moment, Luke spoke again. ”Look, you don’t need to worry. I was going to call Mr. Uzaki in the morning and tell him I’m taking some time off so I can fix this.” Luke explained, casting his eyes at Yoko to wait for her response.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

Despite how she appeared to be brash and thoughtless, Yoko had actually paid attention to everything that Luke has said. She didn't have to stop and consider it for long either. The route forward was obvious enough, but it probably seemed like she wasn't even remotely interested in what the Bount had to say. In fact, when she emerged from the kitchen she was visibly poking away on her phone with one hand while holding a beer in the other. To anyone who didn't know what was going on, it probably seemed like she couldn't care less about the situation. Why would someone who was actually paying attention be on their phone for crying out loud?

Truth was much more helpful than appearance in this case though. Once Luke stopped talking Yoko let out a reply right away. ”Don't bother. I already shot him a text.” As always, her forwardness was probably making her seem like a bit of a bitch, but oh well. She was here to fix a problem, and the problem had been identified. ”I let Kazura know that I'm stealing you from a week or so. Won't even count against sick time. Official training retreats count as work time for us.” Hopefully the man wouldn't be scared away by how forward she was about “fixing” him.

She gave him a moment to process what she had said. He seemed to not quite have figured out how to deal with her direct nature yet, so she allowed him that time as a buffer. ”If you're losing your physical strength over something like that, it just means you never had it to begin with.” Harsh, but true. If it was really the artificial zanpakuto that had been giving him power, and that's what he had been relying on, then he just needed to awaken his own power. Though Yoko was no sage or anything she figured she could help him sort that out. Usually you just had to half kill people and then they magically figured out how to fight back.

”If you've gotten this far without innately developing superhuman strength it probably just means you're a caster type. All we need to do is hone those natural talents you already have instead of trying to regain an old crutch.” Her oversimplified version of events was probably a bit much. This wasn't about to be an easy process, but at least she sounded confident about it right? That definitely counted for something. Truth be told her attitude had a lot to carry as she had made it sound easy, but didn't really have a clue how to accomplish this task. Something told her that this was going to be a much bigger challenge than she gave it credit for.

Clearly the answer to all of this was to reassure both herself and Luke right? ”I figure all we have to do is either go on some bullshit mystical journey and get in touch with your inner self or put your life on the line enough that you're forced to bring out your real power.” It really did sound simple when she put it like that. Sure it possibly ended with Luke dead, but where was the harm in that? If he wasn't strong enough to use his own power then death would be a mercy for him. Okay, okay, that was a little harsh of a view even for Yoko. But she was going to whip this boy into shape one way or another.

So now there was just the matter of which route the man chose to go with. Even though she wasn't a caster type herself, she figured she could lend a hand of it meant bolstering the forces of Uzaki Enterprises. ”So what's it gonna be? I can walk you through a bunch of meditation exercises I know, but that will probably take a lot longer to make progress with. If you want faster results than we should probably go with the plan where I try to kill you and you either awaken your true power or get your ass kicked.” She had a feeling that Luke would choose the boring option, and that was probably the one she was worse equipped to help with. She did know a lot of meditation techniques from her martial arts background, but she wasn't actually sure if those would even help in the end. Only time would tell which path was chosen, and if it would succeed or not.

[Deleted]

Luke couldn’t do much more than to simply look at her with an expression that was a good mixture of surprise and confusion. Without even skipping a bet, Kusanagi told him that she’d already texted Kazura and told him that they would be taking time off to train. They. As in the two of them. Together. Almost like she was implying that Luke would accept her help. As he opened his mouth to say something, that little voice in the back of his told him to just accept it. It was like Windstarke said, this chick was the kind of woman who was going to get what she wanted anyway she could. He might as well just shut up and accept it at this point. If she was this gungho about helping him then he might as well accept her help, however she might be able to.

”Yup.” Luke agreed after Yoko finished what she had to say about his strength. There was no denying that. It was just a fact. His Strength had been provided to him by Mūnran'nā and without the sword he was now losing the Strength he’d been given. What Yoko said next though actually surprised Luke. She explained that Luke must have been a caster type. That little detail actually surprised him. Not because it was a outlandish claim, but because that was exactly what he used to be before being given the sword. He couldn’t agree more with what she said next. She took the words out of his mouth. Luke had already resolved to not rely on a fighting style that he’d lost the primary strength of. It was just as Yoko said. If Luke trained to regain his Strength he’d just be trying to regain an old crutch when he didn’t even have the crutch anymore. The Bount found himself smirking a little.

Yoko Kusanagi was proving to be something else. While she might be socially retarded, the way she analyzed Luke and said the exact things he needed to hear or was already thinking of reminded him immensely of Eris. Both women were scary levels of analytical. After Yoko was done with everything she had to say, Luke decided to disappoint her a little. ”You are right that I’m a caster type. Before I got my hands on that Zanpakuto my reiatsu was pretty strong. I’d already decided on trying to get that power back. Like you said, I’d just be trying to regain an old crutch if I went about trying to get my Strength back.” Luke explained, looking at his hand for a moment.

”Sorry to burst your bubble, but you’re a bit too late if you were hoping for me to awaken some hidden power by fighting you. You’re a couple fights behind.” Luke joked, his mind thinking back to the plethora of battles he’d been through. Luke was, without a doubt, the sort of man who found strength when fighting. Training could help, yeah, but combat was where he unlocked his powers. Each and every time. He always managed to pull something out of his ass. But this was a situation where fighting wasn’t going to help. At least for right now. ”I’m not saying no to you and I going for a round, I’m just saying now isn’t the time.” Luke explained, standing up and stretching his arm out causing his elbow to pop.

”The method, young grasshopper, is to pound that ass.” Please shut up. ”I don’t have the patience or peace of mind for meditation though.” Luke explained, moving past Yoko and heading into his kitchen for another beer. Snapping one off and popping the top, Luke paused before grabbing another one and offering it to her. ”You ever seen that old cartoon, Dragon Ball Z?” Luke asked, earnestly. Regardless of how Yoko answered, Luke kept going. ”There was this one part where two of the characters were training in this time chamber so they could be strong enough to beat this bug guy. But they weren’t really training their muscles, they were instead training to master this transformation. Their idea was to stay transformed for as long as they could so that it was basically their default form.” Luke explained. Yoko was a lot more knowledgeable on this stuff than Luke was, though the Bount didn’t know this, so she’d probably already realized where Luke was going with this.

”My idea is to convert as much of my reiatsu as I can into reiatsu power and keep it like that for as long as I can. Basically if I supercharge my reiatsu pathways and get them used to having that much power in them again, it’s certain to become natural again” Luke explained. ”Hmm. That...actually might work. It’s not that far fetched an idea. Your body was already in that state not long ago.” Windstarke said. ”I dun like it. Not enough naked bodies and blood, sweat, and tears for my taste.” Jäger whined. Regardless though, after explaining this, Luke couldn’t help but frown as he approached his patio door. He was quiet for a moment as he prepared himself to address an elephant in the room. He needed to get this out of the way before he even entertained the idea of letting Yoko train with him. ”You said you read my file, right? So that means you...know what I am, right?” he let the question sink in for a moment, his finger anxiously playing with the cans tab. He needed to know how Yoko felt about what he was before he went any further.

[Yoko Kusanagi]

Without any real hesitation the soldier made herself at home even more. She plopped down into Luke’s living room up against a wall. The space was pretty quaint, but it had a certain degree of charm to it. Then again, given the lack of civilization that she was used to over the last several years, it didn’t take much for her to appreciate a building. It had four walls and a roof, none of which had holes in them. Sure, the walls seemed a bit thin, but at least she couldn’t say daylight through them. Feeling decently secure, she chugged away at the alcohol she had brought with her. Chances were she was going to need the help to keep her interested in this conversation.

Yoko paid close attention as Luke answered her. He had quite a bit to say, and most of it was disappointing to her. He didn’t think either of her methods of helping him would work at all, but at least he agreed that trying to regain his physical strength didn’t make much sense. Maybe there was some hope for this boy yet. And just as the Fullbringer finished draining her first can, Luke offered her another. They might actually get along just fine yet! A slight jerk of her fingers in a come hither motion ripped the can from the man’s hand and right into her own. Yeah, Yoko totally wasn’t above using Grasp of Shou-Lao to grab beer without getting up.

She crushed the empty can into a flat pancake and cracked open the new one before offering a ”Thanks.” to Luke. But the man kept talking, and her faith that the two could ever see eye to eye wavered a good bit fairly quickly. Did this fucking normie just call Dragon Ball Z a goddamn cartoon? REEEEEEEEEEEE. Internally, Yoko was fucking triggered. Anime was a masterpiece and mixing up the glory that was Nippon’s animation with cartoons was unforgivable. One of these things was a form of artistic expression that helped define the modern nation of Japan, and one of these were doodles for children. And the more he talked about it, the more irritated she got. It was time to correct the record.

”Anime, not cartoon. And his name was Cell. Mister Perfect Cell. You’re talking about the Super Saiyan Grade Four training in the Room of Spirit and Time that Goku and Gohan did. I see where you’re going with that, but I’m not sure the principle is quite the same. The issue with Super Saiyan wasn’t that controlling the raw power was hard, but rather that it was extremely stamina taxing.” She gave some time for her words to sink in. Yoko wasn’t a casual fan of Dragonball, and her fighting style actually derived itself a good bit from watching Goku and friends. Without a real world teacher for how to fight in three dimensions, she had turned to studying that choreography, and had spent a disgusting amount of time rewatching those fights.

This also meant she understood what the various forms were, why they were utilized, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. Hell, some of her own abilities and techniques were modeled after Goku’s feats. Pulley was basically Kaio-ken. Fist of Unbroken Air was basically that air blast technique he used against the Ginyu Force. She knew this show damn well. ”Grade Four was devised by Goku as a means to make it so that they didn’t lose so much stamina when transforming from base state to Super Saiyan. The idea of holding your maximum power buildup sounds more like Grade Three, which just resulted in a lot of bulk, and an intense stamina drain and speed loss. The key is control of your ki and a calm state of mind if you’re going for Grade Four, not raw power.”

Yoko considered the merits of applying Dragonball Z style training to Luke’s situation a bit more, and decided to stick to her guns on this one. ”If anything, for your situation, I think you need to work on control as much as you do raw power. I’m not much of a caster myself, but I know the control element is just as important for utilizing reiatsu as how strong it is. In either case, I still think the meditation will help, especially because you think it won’t. A calm mind is key to mastering yourself, and mastery of self is an important milestone to true strength.” She was pretty adamant on that point. In her eyes, seeking raw power without proper control and clarity was nothing but a recipe for disaster. If Luke was going to try and increase his spiritual might without learning the means to control it well then it would only cause trouble in the future.

Then there was the matter of his last question. What he was. A vampire. A bount. A creature of the night. Yeah, she had read through the whole file on him, so she knew that much. Yoko’s answer showed that she knew that, but also that she wasn’t judging him for it. ”What you are doesn’t matter. You don’t smell like the blood of innocents. That means you’re alright in my book. All that matters to me is making you stronger so that you can protect people when I’m not around.” She was here for a reason, and race didn’t factor into that much. She couldn’t smell blood around this apartment, and if he was some kind of serial killer than she certainly would have.

What most people tended to do was stereotype based on the stories they had heard, but Yoko let people ruin their reputation on their own. There was no major evidence of Luke being a bad dude, let alone treating people like cattle. She wasn’t dealing with the creature from Bram Stoker’s work or anything. As long as Luke was on the side of justice then he was fine. ”Unless you go full Alucard, we’re good. If you give me a reason to kill you though, I won’t hesitate. If you start feeding on innocents for shits and giggles, then we have a problem. I hope that day never comes to pass.” Her words were straightforward and true as always. If he stayed on the path of heroism then he was an ally, but Yoko knew that he could give in to temptation and become a problem any time. She hoped that placing her faith in this man wasn’t something she would come to regret in the future.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Grasp of Shou-Lao}
Technique Name: [Grasp of Shou-Lao]

Class: [1]

Technique Type: [Martial]

Usable By (Technique is available to which races?): [Anyone who meets the requirements listed in drawbacks.]

Technique Element: [Martial/Air]

Technique Description and Effects: [The twin to, and yet opposite of, Fist of Unbroken Air. The predecessor to this technique is only a subtle, though not unimportant, difference from what any physically strong being can do. This is one of the extensions that shows the true versatility of forsaking raw power for finesse.

Effectively, this technique allows Yoko to use her physical prowess to forcibly pull the air, and anything within that air, towards her. At learned or proficient status, it is only good for basic uses that pull things right towards her. The rush of wind pulls things with force equivalent to Yoko's physical strength. Unlike Fist of Unbroken Air, this one will NEVER cause direct damage. It will only pull anything in its path, including reiatsu based attacks that it is at least as strong as. In a tie, this technique will still be able to pull the other technique, because this does not directly oppose it, only guide it. Of note, there is no reiatsu signature since it's a physical technique, and it's just air moving, and air is invisible unless filled with smog.

Mastery is what makes this technique truly useful. It allows two other distinct changes. The first is that the path of the air can be controlled to a degree. Nothing elaborate like loop the loops, but it can be curved very slightly. The limit on this is about 45 degrees, meaning it can't take a corner unless it's a really lazy corner, or everyone is in exactly the right spot with a fairly wide hallway.

The second perk of mastery is a change to how it effects the space where the air is initially pulled from. With mastery, the control is so absolute, and the movement so precise, that every last molecule of air is pulled out, causing a vacuum no bigger than the users's strength divided by 100, in cubic feet. So, for 800 strength, you'd have (800/100)=8 cubic feet of vacuum. It will only last an instant, but any flames in that area will be extinguished, barring spiritual flames with a superior offensive stat, since they need oxygen to burn. Everything else, predictably, will briefly behave as it would in a vacuum, because it is in one. Within a second or two of the technique being used, the vacuum will fill back in, and everything will return to normal.

As a purely martial technique, this does not cost any reiatsu. It's generally a defensive or utility technique. The intended use she had in mind when she made it was to either pull allies out of the way of attacks, or pulls attacks away from allies. That being said, it can possibly cause harm in one of two ways. The first is by pulling someone into harm's way (such as pulling them into her fist). The second is the possible adverse effects of being exposed to a vacuum, but that exposure is brief enough that it would just feel like they got the air knocked out of them. While this technique is based on strength, it is NOT based on impact strength. It will work with pure strength boosts like pulley, but not with impact. Anything caught in the airflow of this technique will accelerate to a speed equal to Yoko's strength, unless it is already moving faster than that. If it's faster, then it will just maintain its current speed but alter direction.]

How to use technique (How is it activated?): [Physically pull the air backwards as hard as you can]

Technique Drawbacks: [First are the requirements. This technique cannot be performed without at least 600 strength and a 3 in a strike-based martial art. However, only Kunlun or Baguazhang users can master this technique. Additionally, one must have mastered Low Pressure and Fist of Unbroken Air to use this technique. The technique is limited to a range of Strength/10 feet, so it's not able to be used over incredibly large distances. It also telegraphs notably, so it's not that hard to avoid getting pulled if you just watch Yoko's movements and have battle analysis.]

Made By: Yoko Kusanagi

Reserved?: [Yes, but can be learned and mastered by others if Yoko chooses to teach them all the secrets of it.]

[Deleted]

What the fuck was going on? What the hell did Luke just do? One second they were having a normal conversation about training and the next Yoko went into some sort of rant about Dragonball Z. First she corrected his use of the word cartoon, because the distinction between the two was so fuckig important, before listing off the name of a character and going into the specific details about the two Saiyans training. While Yoko just rambled, Luke just stood there staring at her. His muddy browns had widened with surprise, his lips pursed in suspense and confusion, as he just watched her rant. ”Oh god. She’s a disgusting weeabo.” Jäger sneered, his voice practically dripping with disdain for Yoko. What the fuck was a weeabo??

Super Saiyan Grade Four? What the fucking fuck? But when she stopped talking in weeb, Luke began to understand a bit about what she was saying. At least...a little bit. Note to self...just don’t mention anything cartoon related around her.. Luke advised himself, sheepishly taking a drink. But when the talk about Dragonball was done, Yoko once again pressed into the meditation thing. Listening to her, Luke felt himself begin to frown. She was under the assumption that Luke didn’t have control over his reiatsu. But the more she talked, the more sense that she was making.

Once again, Luke had to realize that Yoko was going to get her way. Granted, none of this was her business and Luke didn’t ask for her help...but if she was going to help he might as well accept her ideas. ”Don’t let your pride get in the way here.” Windstarke advised, picking up on why Luke was getting a bit irritated at this girl. ”She might actually know more about this than you do. Just let her help.” Windstarke said again. ”You might actually get laid too.” Jäger snickered, but realizing that he was ignored said the same line again. ”Pay attention to me!” The Doll cried as the other two continued to ignore him.

The problem, though, was that Luke wasn’t sure he had the time to take things slowly. He mulled over that as Yoko explained that she didn’t care that Luke was a Bount. She had gotten the feeling that he was a good man and not a monster that prowled the streets looking for his next neck to bite. He appreciated that. A lot of people made assumptions about who he was as a person because of what he was, rather than who he was as a person. It was why Luke tended to be hesitant about revealing his true race to people. Going back to his thought process though, Luke was concerned about taking things slow.

He knew just how strong their enemies were. He had seen the absolute strongest of the Vandenreich in a single night. There were unknown threats as well. Luke knew that the people he would consider enemies were growing in strength and number. So did they actually have the time to take things slow? Yoko would probably notice that Luke was being quiet, his focus not entirely on her, as he thought things over. It was the same thing he did at the gym when he confused about his lacking strength. There was the possibility that taking things too fast could harm his body though...and if he was broken then how was he going to fight? Shit.. he said to himself, realizing Eris had said something similar once before to him about a different matter.

Rocking the beer in his can around a little, Luke couldn’t think of any sort of alternative. ”Alright, we’ll do it your way.” he conceded, simply and easily without any fluff. ”I don’t like the idea of doing things slowly though. While I’m busy playing catch up our enemies are going to get stronger. It’s in my nature to rush ahead without any care for consequence. But worst case scenario is I fuck up bad and can’t fight anymore...so let’s go with your plan.” Luke said, scratching the back of his head as he put the can down on his table. If I can’t fight then I can’t make things right.. he thought to himself. Luke realized he could feel a little buzz in his head. He just realized now that it had been awhile since he’d actually had any beer. Did his tolerance drop or something? He was still capable of rational thought but...fuck it. He went to go get another one.

Popping one out of the pack, he’d realized that this would be his third can. He decided to save the rest for Yoko. ”So where do we start?” he asked

[Yoko Kusanagi]

At long last it seemed like she had made progress on this man. He didn’t like her ideas, but admitted that they might have some merit. His desire to rush ahead and get everything done in a hurry was just more evidence that Yoko was right about him. His heart was in the right place, bless him, but his head wasn’t. Even if his method was a decent way to get raw power, as far as the Fullbringer could tell that wasn’t actually the biggest weakness he had. This vampire was dangerously brash. The only thing that made him hesitate from doing things his way was the idea that it could nearly kill him.

No matter how irresponsible it might be, Yoko did admire his resolve and desire to grow stronger. She didn’t think his willingness to risk it all was worth it though. Strength was a lifelong journey, and not the type of thing that shortcuts should be taken on. Sure, the enemies would get stronger, but so would the heroes. That was the nature of escalation, and forcing it to happen all at once had a nasty way of backfiring. Maybe it was just because Yoko was so used to the same style of training for so many years that she appreciated this. Her routine had hardly varied since she obtained her powers. Sure, an exercise might change now and again, but she had rarely found herself lacking in strength even without risking her life in her training methods.

Of course she didn’t express her thoughts further out loud. She had already made those points to him, and restating them wouldn’t add anything. Instead she acknowledged his comments with a nod and finished the rest of her drink before replying. ”Yeah, they’ll get stronger, but so will you. You don’t seem like the type to die easily so I’m sure you’ll catch them sooner or later.” Did she just compliment him? It was honestly rather hard to tell, but that’s what she had intended that line as. Luke seemed decently hardy, and she didn’t think he was the type to keel over after a papercut. Some of the weaker members in Uzaki Enterprises made her feel that way, but not Luke.

No, she actually had some respect for this guy. Despite the impression she gave off, and the harsh words she used, she wouldn’t have been here in the first place if his file hadn’t shown a good deal of talent. Most of what she docked him points for was recklessness, but he presumably had a pair of balls down there, so that was only natural. Finding a man with powers who didn’t throw himself at death with open arms was such a rarity. Oh lordy, where was her mind going. ”Really, I think we start by relaxing first.” She sent a playful punch towards the Bount. It was clearly restrained, given it was practically thrown in slow motion by her standards.

”You’re way too tense.” Whether she hit or not didn’t matter. Yoko used his reaction to illustrate a point. ”Tonight, we drink and make merry! Tomorrow, when I can legally drive again, we leave for a good training ground in the middle of nowhere!” Wait. What? Holy shit there was a lot to unpack in what the Fullbringer had just said. The beginnings of a red flush in her cheeks made it pretty obvious that the alcohol had had a bit of an effect on her already. No matter how much you “practice” there are always biological limits to processing something like booze, and there wasn’t a whole lot of body for the drink to fill. Yeah, she was already tipsy for sure.

In fact, she was already too drunk to drive anywhere tonight by her assessment. She also had no intention of calling a cab either. That was a waste of money when she was already somewhere nice and warm with a roof over her head. Unless she was literally kicked out, she had every intention of spending the night. It was easier to stay there. It made sense! Well, it made sense to her at least. She also had taken the “where” in Luke’s question literally, rather than figuratively. Sure, training in his apartment didn’t make a ton of sense, but that probably wasn't what Luke had been getting at. He probably meant something like “okay, let's start doing some training.” If nothing else, at least he seemed to be learning what to expect over the next week or so.

---

The Next Morning

---

Alarm sirens clanged as her phone went off bright and early at 0530. A lazy use of soul command shut the device up and the Fullbringer forced herself off the wall she had slept against. Truth be told, her back was a little sore. She'd had plenty worse though. It sure as shit beat a foxhole. The woman made her way over to Luke’s bathroom and cleaned herself up a bit. She didn't put much effort into her appearance most of the time, but with literally nothing but a toothbrush, toothpaste, and deodorant in her road kit that she'd retrieved from her bike last night… well let's just say she looked a little less put together than the previous day. And yes, of course she always kept spare supplies in her bike, including a change of clothes. Never knew when your outfit was gonna get blown up in a fight right?

She took a look at herself in the mirror and shrugged before she reached over and turned on the water in the shower. A spare towel was snatched out of the corner and she stole some shampoo and soap. If the training went how she expected it to then it would be awhile before she got to enjoy a shower again. Might as well get one in before she didn't have the option right? After a brief and uninteresting cleansing, she emerged from the bathroom in just that towel she had stolen. It was enough to cover her, and frankly she didn't really give a damn about things like modesty. Hell, she wasn't even sure if Luke was awake. It didn't matter though. She'd forgotten her change of clothes back in the living room and needed to retrieve them before she got dressed.

Without any fanfare on her end, Yoko retrieved her clothes and returned to the bathroom to get dressed. Though she was used to giving zero fucks in the middle of a god forsaken desert, she did at least try to abide by basic human decency if she could. Putting on underwear in front of a guy she had just met was a bit much, even for her. Once she was fully dressed in her much more casual outfit -a white camisole under a blue cropped jacket and a pair of dark grey cargo jeans – she emerged from the bathroom and actually checked to see if the vampire was awake. ”Wakey wakey. Time to go get strong."

Whenever the man was ready, she insisted that they get going before traffic hit. Their destination was a good few hours outside of town, in quite the literal middle of nowhere. Assuming Luke didn’t make a big deal out of it, then it wasn’t hard to get there with the Fullbringer’s motorcycle. After quite a bit of travel, one way or another, the Fullbringer proclaimed with quite a bit of enthusiasm. ”We’re here! Isn’t it perfect?” As far as the Bount would be able to tell, they were in the middle of nowhere on a poorly maintained road surrounded by trees on all sides. ”It’s this way!" She led him fairly deep into the forest on a nearly hourlong hike before it would finally all make sense.

In the middle of what seemed to be nowhere was naught but a lone Shinto shrine gate that overlooked a vast ravine. A gentle stream ran down the cliffside behind them. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing. ”Okay, now we’re really here. I know it’s a bit out of the way, but that’s the point. This used to be a holy site, before, well…” her words trailed off and she revealed the broken, moss-covered remains of a small temple down at the bottom of a cliff. It was ripped to shreds and covered in a small mountain of debris. Poor thing had been the victim of a collapse on the cliff above. ”Here, with nothing but the echoes of prayer long past, you shall learn to breathe.” The Fullbringer seated herself with crossed legs under the gate. ”Join me." It was an invitation, not an order. Her tone had softened considerably since they left the city. Whether she was joined or not, until she was interrupted by some form of question, the Fullbringer went into a meditative trance, thinking of nothing but her own breath. Knowing Luke though, it was doubtful that she would go long without being interrupted.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Outfit Reference}

SPOILER: Click to show

{Location Reference}

[Deleted]

”Morning.” Luke replied as Yoko tried to wake up the blankets on his futon. Pouring a cup of coffee into his personal mug, Luke took a sip of his morning addiction as he looked over at Yoko. The Fullbringer had woken up at 5:30, whereas the Bount had been up much earlier. It was simply the fact that he was a Bount for why he was up before her. Being a Bount meant he needed much less sleep than a normal human. He’d slept for a little over an hour after he and Yoko stopped their drinking. While he had offered her his bed, she had declined and decided to sleep against the wall. When he did wake up, completely sober and without a hangover, he had done what he could to not wake her up.

After getting up he had went for his daily run through Karakura’s streets and rooftops. While he may have been losing his Strength he could still run like he normally could. He’d gotten back after Yoko had finished her shower, thankfully, but now needed to get ready himself for wherever the hell she planned to take him. The only thing Luke needed to do was wash up, change, and make a call to someone. Whoever he called was asked if they could come feed Gracie and change her litter pans, as well as convey to someone named Aura that Luke would be out of town for a bit. Now ready to leave, let’s just say Luke wasn’t too thrilled about riding bitch on a motorcycle with Yoko. After a few moments of goading and pushing from his Dolls, Luke consented and got on the back of the bike. Needless to say, riding on the back of a motorcycle for hours was rather...boring. His ass ended up hurting too just from the lack of bike experience. Normally he’d take a nap on a trip like this but how the hell could he without falling off?

”We’re here! Isn’t it perfect?” Yoko exclaimed rather excitedly as Luke pulled himself off the bike. Fidgeting with his jacket’s collar, Luke took a look around them. They really were in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. He was happy he brought his jacket at least. Still, Luke couldn’t deny that it was quiet out here. It was a nice change from the loud concrete jungle he was used to being surrounded by. In fact, looking around at all the trees ended up reminding Luke a bit of home. Well, where he would generally call “home” anyways. It brought up memories of the time when he still had his mother and father. His dad, after his service in the military, ended up working in the steel industry. Places like Ohio, Colorado, South Dakota and other places ended up being where Luke grew up because of how often they moved. His mother was also very adamant of wanting to live away from other people...though knowing what he knew now Luke understood why.

”It’s this way!" Yoko calling out to him snapped him out of his flashback, drawing the Bounts attention to her as she proceeded to lead him deeper into the woods. ”Seems like she’s warming up to you.” Windstarke commented softly, referring to the fact that Yoko’s tone towards him had changed since last night. It wasn’t the alcohol this time either. It was something Luke had picked up on as well. She was either genuinely excited about this or she was starting to lighten up towards him. ”She’s actually kind of cute for a weeb.” Jäger decided to say. ”That wasn’t what I was getting at.” the other Doll quipped back. ”That’s because you and I aren’t on the same wavelength. You should spend more time trying to get our home on the go here laid.” Jäger stated rather matter of factly. ”What is with you and your obsession with sex?” Windstarke just decided to ask before Luke toned the two out, not interested in listening to this conversation happen. Though, he had noticed that Springflut had been silent since yesterday. It wasn’t strange for him to go days without saying anything though so Luke pushed the thought out of his head.

The hike took about an hour, though Luke didn’t end up winded or anything. He was still in shape despite his fleeting Strength. When they finally reached their destination, Luke couldn’t suppress the ”Oh wow.” that came out of his mouth. A lone shrines gate stood before a vast ravine revealing the expansion of forest and snaking river below. Approaching the edge of the cliff he looked out, eyes a bit starry from awe, as he ended up looking down as Yoko explained to him why they were here. He spotted the actual shrine at the bottom of the cliff that she pointed out, feeling a little bad for the shrine as he did so. This used to be somewhere special for someone and it was just gone now. Time wasn’t forgiving nor had favorites.

Blinking, Luke turned to look at Yoko after her invitation. She had seated herself beneath the gate in meditation, inviting Luke to join her. He frowned a little, resting his hands in his pockets for a moment as he pondered over it. With a shrug he approached her, sitting a few feet away from her underneath the shrine with his legs crossed and closing his eyes. He might as well give it a try. Closing his eyes, Luke proceeded to focus on his breathing. In and out. In and out. No noises but those of the forest. No distractio-”You’re falling asleep stupid.” Oh god damn it. Despite Jäger’s interruptions causing Luke to twitch, he realized the Doll was right. Luke had nearly fallen asleep.

He realized he’d gotten too relaxed. Or maybe he was still tired. He wasn’t sure. They did take a few hours getting here. Trying to focus again, Luke made sure to remain aware enough to not let himself go to sleep. Meditation was...different for him. He had times where he could remain focused on a train of thought for hours but...this was different. He was supposed to clear his mind and focus on nothing right? That shouldn’t be too-”I’m bored. Luke, play me in Minesweeper.” God. Fucking. DAMN IT. ”Jäger, be quiet!” Oh no. ”But I’m boooooooooooooooooooored!! This sitting around and doing nothing is not doing anything stimulating or productive!” Jäger whined. ”Because it’s not supposed to entertain you. It’s to fucking help him train!” Windstarke snapped back.

”Training schmaining. Y’know what would be fun? Skinny dipping with the weeb. Now that would be fun. Or playing a prank on her. Oh, oh, oh Luke I have g-””Jäger you're such a fucking idiot just stop!” ”This isn’t working…” Luke grumbled to himself, not even realizing he had put his face into his hands. ”It’s really hard to focus when Statler and Waldorf won’t shut the hell up.” Luke grumbled to himself, not realizing he was talking out loud.