[BSD-RP] The Valley of Screams

[Shinigami]

“Oh no…”
Sweat begins to build on the captain’s forehead, a few stray drops rolling down his cheeks and onto the ground, off his chin. His eyes are locked on the folded envelope on his desk, hesitant to approach and learn of its purpose. The hauntingly familiar purple insignia emblazoned on the letter is enough to give the boy butterflies in his stomach… It was time for him to participate in another one of his many duties as captain.
Or perhaps, another matter entirely. A personal summons from the Captain-Commander? Maybe he wished to discuss a private matter with the young captain… a secret assignment designed especially for him? Numerous ideas try their hardest to make any sense in Yū’s head, but still the appalling idea of proctoring a Captain’s test refuses to be forgotten. Shakily, he reaches for the missive and removes the stamp with a single swipe of his hand. The letter unfolds…

Quote:Captain Nakamoto,
You are hereby ordered to escort examinee Shusuke Kiyoshi to the Valley of Screams. It is here you will act as the presiding proctor––

“Shit...”
… the boy whispers under his breath. His worst wishes granted, Yū can’t help but suddenly feel dizzy, cueing him to grip the chair beside him to catch himself. He finds reading the rest of the letter to be virtually pointless– the anxious boy is fully aware of what is expected of him… and he fears it. While other captains are able to fulfill their duty without complaint with some even yearning the “honor”, proctoring had always been something the young captain had dreaded. He ignorantly assumed because of his status as a fourth division member, he would find himself exempt from the task, but a direct request from the Captain Commander… this is a duty he is unable to turn down, no matter how much he desires to.
He turns to the bed in his office, his zanpakutō resting lazily against his bed frame. How many months had it been since he last drew his blade for the purpose of combat? The idea of it even being a weapon was foreign to the crimeless. The boy regains his balance and steadily walks to his bedside. He grips his zanpakutō by the hilt, and with one fluid, sideward motion, the blade cleanly slides from its sheath. The otherwise impeccable katana would lose its shine today no doubt, blood threatening to stain the faultless metal. The shine of the blade crosses over Yū’s eyes before he locks eyes with himself; his reflection as clear as if looking into a mirror. His worrisome expression begins to fade, now replaced by a stoic Captain Nakamoto looking back at him. His inner protest is short-lived; Yū understands what he must do, and what is expected of him…
… and for the greater good, for the future of Soul Society, the young captain would not fail.

“Sorry for keeping you waiting, Shusuke...”
… a voice calls out from behind the idle shinigami. Yū steps out from between the sliding doors, the expansive void closing from behind him. The captain stands steady, only a few meters away from the seemingly, gentle man. The boy takes quick note of his surroundings; It had been awhile, since he last found himself in the Valley of Screams. He wasn’t exactly fond of this place, haunting memories of his match against Captain Mukuro forcefully infiltrating his mind when he tried to reminisce. But with all the bad that had come from that day, young Yū Nakamoto had unknowingly become one of few, ensuring his position in the Gotei 13 on this very field. Perhaps today, he would personally witness another shinigami join their ranks as the captain of the sixth division… or fall, like the many that failed before him.
Yū allows a moment of silence to pass between them, allowing Shusuke to greet the Captain in return or if he chose to be rudely cryptic, they would instead share the sound of the howling wind encompassing them. Either response would be met by the same, swift action.
In a flash, the boy unveils his zanpakutō from its sheath, the shell of his glittered weapon now empty of its matching piece. He lowers the rectangular hilt down to his abdomen, his zanpakutō’s blade raised directly in front of him, parallel to his stance. While it is unknown to many that his skill in zanjutsu is by far the worst of his peers, his displayed form to those in the dark in holding his blade, exudes the confidence of a true, born master. But, now the following question is offered... what purpose would resident kidō master Yū Nakamoto achieve by drawing his blade? His frame refuses to break, the facade proving to hold strong. Yū's typical soft countenance is absent of any mercy; Instead, Shusuke is met with an uncomfortable scowl. His expression however, is unable to match with the tender words he leaves for his opponent before they begin.

“Whenever you’re ready. Best of luck to you, and… I’m sorry, in advance.”

 

[Shinigami]

The howling winds of the valley brushed through his jet black hair, the humidity was starting to have an adverse effect over it making it appear as if static overrun it. Something he would fix later on after his test, the last thing on his mind currently was how he was presented to his examiner but was indeed concerned about his combat capability for the position in question. He awaited his proctors patiently for what seemed to be about ten minutes. Not a long wait for sure but he had either expected them to already be here or to even travel together. Excitement still ruled his body, blood rushing to his appendages in wait of a heated battle. His proctor was the 4th Division captain, surely he was chosen for a specific reason to oversee Shusuke's abilities, he didn't know him very well. Or at all for that matter, only in reputation did he know Captain Nakamoto. He was said to be gentle, intelligent and truly skilled in Kido as all Division Four members were, he was looking forward to seeing how well he’d fare against a Captain with abilities such as himself. The winds now picking up in velocity, he could feel something changing in the atmosphere but he couldn’t quite place it yet. Soon. A flash burst and cracked into the air not too far from his immediate body, taking form was a circular sliding door first, then rectangular. He recognized these things as he had just come out of one himself. A Senkaimon. He assumed his proctor had finally arrived, he probably had the entire Sereitei to heal before he had to look after his examination. He felt bad but this was an important day for him and moment, whatever the good captain was doing prior would have to be put on hold for just a few moments.
The doors finally opened and out came a young man with features resembling….A woman. Albeit Shusuke had never formally “met” the Captain of Fourth but he had heard rumors about his...features. Quite feminine he thought but he knew he was a male. Although admittedly for Shusuke to see at first was quite difficult, he soon grasped his appearance nevertheless. This never once made him question the captains’ ability however, being the captain of 4th was difficult work and having to learn and keep up with new bacterias and medicine in an ever constantly growing society and outside world….”Sheesh...poor guy looks almost exhausted.” he thought. He would soon retract his immediate statement as he saw the lax leave the young captain’ eyes and was soon replaced by a stoic gaze set upon Shusuke himself. He greeted him with a simple hello and apologized for keeping him waiting for some time. It hadn’t felt like a while, but the waiting game was nerve wracking. The moment had finally arrived however and he would soon undergo his test. Shusuke figured it’d be rude of him not to properly introduce himself to his superior before they performed battle. He would take it upon himself to grant him his name before proceeding. “Please Captain, your busy schedule is of no ill will to me i’m just glad the day wasn’t postponed...Granted I never knew it was going to happen today! It’s good to finally meet you.” he spoke. He tried to be as respectful as he could prior to the battle because he wasn’t sure how polite either one of them would be going forward once blades are crossed and kido is fired.
He noticed that he unsheathed his zanpakuto rather early, peculiar for a master kido user who Shusuuke would’ve assumed to start with as opposed to withdrawing his blade. He held the blade with confidence, as a captain should. He expected nothing less from someone of his station. Shusuke taking the hint, decided he wanted to find out what he was all about behind that blade of his. Shusuke then set his legs apart from each other, shoulder length and sturdy. He slightly bent his knees and tucked his elbows into his ribs ever so slightly with his hands un-fisted as if he were holding two large pieces of fruit. He slowly built his reiryoku to course throughout himself, from his feet to his waist and he halted the build up to hear Yu’s words. A simple his first move and good luck. But what really caught him about the sentence was the apology in advance. Was it a jab at Shusuke? A deliberate ploy to shake him from his position? What could he apologize for in advance? Excitement was now filling the upper part of his body again. The thrilling anxiety of an ensuing battle, the culmination of Shusuke’s training and hard work in his career was now all headed up to this point….it was time.
He allowed the reiatsu he had built up flow into the upper part of his body, his body now beginning to exude his spiritual pressure, a bloodthirsty grin soon appeared across his face. Raising his reiatsu higher, but not nearly to its peak. Air flowing around him as it built up in a cyclone. Once satisfied, he began to slowly walk toward Nakamoto with seemingly controlled rage. He waited until he closed the gap between the two at about 2 meters before letting loose the true nature of his reiatsu. Smoke soon filled the air like steeping tea in hot water, with smoke would blanket the immediate area in almost no time at all, Shusuke was coalescing within his reiatsu almost out of vision. Unlike his other form of “smoke” this wasn’t nearly as thick but dense all the same if not careful, your senses could be thrown off within this space. Shusuke circled around the captain to gauge his reaction to the true nature of his inner energy, but without haste he found a spot he wanted to strike first, he had circled behind the captain and had lunged in from the shadows of the smoke and leaped up into a high jump kick with his right leg aimed for Yu’s neck. He twisted his body with enough torque and force for the kick to send her flying outside of the smoke space. He would then land still inside of his reiatsu smoke cage and lie in wait for the next move from the Fourth Division’s Captain.

 

[Shinigami]

His proactive apology is met with no direct response– Shusuke’s proud yet abrupt display of his spiritual pressure is enough to convince the Captain his parting statement was well understood. The shinigami’s otherwise placid expression is no longer able to be found, now replaced by a spine-chilling grin that stretches from ear to ear; However, the captain remains unfazed, his stoic countenance lingers as well as his stance.
Shusuke takes his first step towards the captain. Suddenly, a yellow energy manifests from his blade, wild flames now dancing around the unblemished metal. A similar colored light shines from his hands themselves, concentrating in his palms and radiating outwards. Yū reinforces his posture, tensing his muscles. His grip on his zanpakutō’s hilt tightens, the veins underneath his wrists bulging and strained.

“Come on then…”

Listen while reading

... the boy whispers to himself. Shusuke takes a second step, the force of his reiatsu increasing with every centimeter gap closed between them. Yū turns the tip of his blade, once facing upwards, to now point to his left. Simultaneous with the initial action of the challenger’s third step, the captain brings both arms to his right, raising them to face level; His rigid grip, however, remains unchanged. The air around the pair begins to pick up, tossing the ends of his haori and shihakusho about, but not potent enough to budge the captain from his form. With each subsequent step closer Shusuke takes, the reiryoku swirling around the boy’s blade becomes more violent, threatening to scrape and singe its’ creator’s cheeks at any given moment. Yū remains in this stance, frozen, allowing the Kiyoshi to slowly, but surely, close the gap between them down to three meters. Never an aggressor and willingly allowing Shusuke to continue on the offensive, the captain refuses to flinch in the face of his adversary’s raw power until a spike in the challenger's reiatsu is noted. No longer is overwhelming pressure and outward force the only things emanating from the approaching shinigami, now comes… a shift. And with this shift, comes Yū’s counter strike.
The reiryoku emanating from the boy’s blade now reaches its apex in both brightness and vigor, the fervent light almost blinding to the focused eye.
Shusuke takes his final step, halting at his planned two meter gap before a brief cloud of smoke escapes from the shinigami’s pores. It rests on his skin for a moment before expanding outward exponentially and blanketing the immediate around them. Instantly, the boy’s vision is shrouded and a weak wave of nausea travels through him, the only thing now visible being the sharp light that pierces through the veil of smog. 'I don't like this... Yū reflects, bringing his zanpakutō closer to his chest. Unaware to the young captain, Shusuke begins circling around him, now in pursuit of the perfect spot for him to begin his covert assault. Simultaneous with his hunt, Yū as well jumps into action, but with a different intention. A voice booms from within the smoke…
“Hadō #78. Zangerin!”
In an attempt to disperse the short-lived smokescreen, the captain’s form flickers– a product of his body furiously performing a single yet forceful twirl to the right with sword securely in tow. At once, his wrists snap outward and his blade slices horizontally across; A portion of the yellow energy that had slowly been accumulating on his zanpakutō now whips off of it sharply, forming a surprisingly thin yet luminous, golden circle around the boy’s figure. Within the blink of an eye, this circle is formed and with equal urgency, it expands outward indefinitely into the assumed horizon. At first, only a thin sliver of the smoke is cleanly dispersed, a clear trail having now formed where his slice had previously cut through not even a second ago.
Then, it vanishes entirely.
Following the guideline the boy had cleaved, the smoke cloud instantly separates in half from that point before disseminating completely in the same breath– the force and precision of Yū’s kidō now evident. The Kiyoshi’s position is revealed immediately with the dissipation of the smoke shroud, a straw sandal-covered foot unapologetically charging with ferocity at Yū’s neck. He glances over his shoulder, and catches sight of the shinigami recklessly charging at him, now all too blatant... and a potentially fatal mistake, due to his recent lack of cover.

In response to his foolhardiness, the captain feels satisfied to have briskly just come up with a fitting answer for the rapidly approaching shinigami. Once more Yū’s frame flickers, now re-materializing a mere few paces to the right of where he once stood, but still out of reach of Shusuke’s charge. This time, with arms raised, does the captain move on to the offensive.
“Hadō #32. Ōkasen!”
… he exclaims. The captain’s grip on his blade tightens even further, as he slashes diagonally downwards, facing Shusuke’s back. His actual blade makes virtually no contact with the man yet still, ribbons of flesh and stripes of blood instantly and simultaneously fly outwards and vaporize into nothing. The remainder of the reiryoku coating the boy’s blade slides off cleanly and directly slices into and potentially, through, Shusuke himself. As a result, a large shockwave is produced, causing the young captain to brace himself as well as the added threat of his assault cutting the unsuspecting Shinigami fully in half with a single stroke. Only one foot of the captain’s remains grounded into the bedrock, the other foot now lifted up in an effort to maintain his balance from the sheer recoil of his kidō. This other foot would also prove to be effective for him to shift direction to further leap outwards if Shusuke had somehow processed the captain’s imperceptible speed prior to his strike.
The shockwave, however, proves to be too overwhelming for the young Yū, cueing him to flash step back a few more meters to witness the aftermath of his hasty retaliation. The captain falls silent, the only noise audible to him now being the smoke oozing casually from his zanpakutō and the grumbling of the disturbed bedrock below him. Patiently, he waits for a better answer from the shinigami, or none at all... which technically, would be an answer in itself.

 

[Shinigami]

“Not a true blade, but a conductor for his true offense. Noted.
He found his first few moves met with favorable response and expertise expected from a captain of Yu’s caliber. He didn’t expect her to take things as lightly as he would’ve hoped, regardless he was as involved in the battle as feverently as he possibly could be. After his attempt to close the gap between the two was to a degree successful, he had wondered if he had thrown the captain threw a loop, catching a small flicker of wonder in his eyes prior to the release of his hado that had cut through his reiatsu filled smokescreen. Revealing his position, as the candidate shinigami leaped into the air and attempted a high jump kick to the neck, to debilitate his small stature opponent. Expertly parrying out of the way with his pivot foot, and now bringing himself to the back of Shusuke, It didn’t take long for him to hear the next incantation spell as he hadn’t gotten too far away behind him, Shusuke’s foot meets air, he then swings his leg in the same direction it was travelling and lands on solid ground but he knew his timing would be very close. “Hado…” his second foot landed, instinct now kicking in, he bent his knees and leaned while leaping backwards…”#32, Okasen!” he tucked his knees into his chest while performing a backward somersault mid air while dodging a high level kido full of destructive intent!
The wave of kido ripped forward in Shusukes previous position releasing from the edge of Yu’s blade, a current of destructive energy flowed and emanated from the captains attack and created a large fissure in the ground that had cleanly cut all in its wake. Landing just almost a meter away from the onset danger, he witnessed the aftermath. None too surprised, they had their orders, kill or be killed that's the way they saw it and he would need to adopt the same mentality if he were to be successful here today. Shaking the jitters from his bones from his almost impending death, he scanned the area for Yu and quickly found his small body. He soon decided to head back into the fray but this time he would run a little more quickly cover all the space between them at a quicker rate than he had before. His body still fueled by his reiatsu, this step would appear faster than normal, and would quickly unsheathe his own blades and reappear on the left side of the captains body. With both blades in hand, he would make a move to lift his left hand and make an attempt at a cut aimed across the sternum. Height playing a small factor in Shusuke’s point of attack but this would soon prove to be a feint, and would soon shunpo to the right side of the captains body and perform a diagonal slash aimed from the shoulder to waistline had the captain turned to face him, the cut had enough force to sever the collarbone from the rest of the arm, making it hard to use and focus reiatsu into that particular part of the body. Assuming his attack were to be successful or not, he would keep close, and on guard for the next strike that followed. He would also slowly exude his smoky reiatsu once more to coalesce the battlefield, obscuring his vision from Yu and making him feel weight upon his shoulders as he fought.

 

[Shinigami]

“I missed... ” he realizes as the aftermath of his strike now subsides. On the other side of the large crevice formed across the bedrock stands Shusuke, visibly shaken even from their significant distance yet unharmed from his kidō. He had clearly underestimated the shinigami’s speed, a mistake Yū realizes he can’t repeat. This time, the captain wastes little time to allow Shusuke any more time to recover; He immediately sheathes his blade and raises his hands in front of him in one fluid movement.
By the time Shusuke would catch the form of the young captain, he would see Yū’s arms raised, palms faced outward, with raised shoulders. Already halfway into his incantation, the blonde would inaudibly mutter…
“...ye who bears the name of Man. Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges…”
However, it becomes clear the pair share the same insight, Shusuke now eagerly advancing as well to initiate his counter. The shinigami takes a single step towards Yū, and unlike his slow and steady approach from before, his frame suddenly vanishes from sight. The blonde’s eyes widen in shock– it seems he had in fact, greatly underestimated his speed. With arms still outstretched, Shusuke instantly appears at the boy’s side, blades drawn and prepared to exact his revenge. Yū’s palms, previously facing outward, now clap together, the man diving in from his left side in an attempt to cut him across his sternum.
Plumes of crimson smog instantly erupt from the captain’s build, engulfing the two and effortlessly dwarfing the size of Shusuke’s previous smoke cloud that he had conjured at the start of their bout. The form of the boy still remains within the veil, arms still raised, however, completely stagnant. It seems as if he’s a statue, undisturbed and unflinching in the face of Shusuke’s incoming blade, save for the frantic expression on his face. The man suddenly flash steps to the right of the helpless boy, this time with the full intent to draw blood from the captain. However, as Shusuke swipes downwards from the boy’s shoulder to his waist, his blades would cut nothing but air, the afterimage of Yū Nakamoto now coalescing within the red haze … and then, the deluge would arrive.
Meters above, the authentic Yū would float overhead the smog, his palms facing outward as they did before Shusuke’s attempt at a counter. Having finished his incantation upon his rapid arrival upwards, varying hues of red-tinted reiryoku build and crackle around his arms, accumulating more strength as the oblivious shinigami remains occupied, toying with the false duplicate below. Just when this red energy threatens to take down the caster as well, he roars…
“Hadō #31. Shakkahō!”
With rapid succession, crimson orbs immediately launch from Yū’s palms, an innumerable amount raining down into the blooming smog as well as the immediate area around it in the hopes it would catch a quick-footed Shusuke. Continuously, the barrage of flaming meteors persists for several seconds, the entire extent of the smoke cloud and several feet past it all erupting in heat and debris due to the storm’s wrath. The unsuspecting shinigami would find it hard pressed to dodge each flaming sphere added with their residual force, as the similarly colored smoke and identical reiryoku signature would prove enough to shroud the fast-approaching downpour.
It isn’t until Yū recognizes he might be going a tad overboard if he progresses that he finally decides enough is enough. The energy from his palms dissipates as his arms now fall back to his side, concluding his restless bombardment. There was little he wished to do at the moment, besides to catch his breath and await to see just what the Kiyoshi could do now in the face of the Kidō Prince.