((OOC: Set between my last post in the Rp Styxx and my arrival in Seireitei))

A storm was on the horizon. Black rolling clouds rumbled in the distance, growling their arrival to the inhabitants of Rukogai. Sal watched them dejectedly, a cup of tea in his hand, as he stood in the doorway of Rab's hut. He still had things to learn the man had said and so he was to delay his journey to the Soul Reapers by three weeks. Not long considering how long it had taken him to come so far.

"I think this is the type of weather you wanted me to watch out for right?" He called into the hut over the now howling wind that banged window shutters and made roofs creak.

"This'll do lovely son," He had a sadistic gleam to his eye that Salem found worrying. "Aye this'll do lovely.."

They gathered three large sacks and headed for the usual training ground, a small part of Rukogai that had fallen to ruin. Rab threw open the sacks as they arrived and inside were metallic looking poles, each had a small silver ball at its top and a spike at the other end. Rab handed him an arm full and instructed him to arrange them in a large circle, both of them set to work and soon a large ten foot by ten foot circle lay in the middle of the broken down housing and derelict shacks.

"Now what?" Asked Sal as the first of the drizzle came down from the heavy black clouds over head.

"Now you get into the circle...." The man said with an ushering shove, Sal complied and stood in the middle looking over at the man.

"And now?" He asked and then rose a brow as the silver balls atop the metal poles around him began to glow a bright blue and then with a hiss of energy a line of energy began connecting between them, sealing him inside. "I don't like this..." He muttered.

"You ready?" Asked Nesbit, his hands clasped before him, a smile on his face. "We'll start off small, just be ready to dodge."

Sal had no chance to answer, from the heavens ripped a powerful charge of lightning that ground into one of the poles and danced between them, circling the silver balls like it was stuck on a loop. Rab had begun to mumble under his breath and his eyes were closed, head bowed.
He watched the charge, tried to follow it but he could barely tell where it began and ended. The first bolt struck him in the chest, it was small and only enough to send a painful charge through his body but he saw the purpose behind this strange ritual now and he didn't bloody like it.

He steadied his breathing and waiting, the hairs on his arms standing up because of the static charge, and then he felt it. It was just a change in the static charge behind him, it intensified, but it was enough for him to deduce that was where the next attack would come from. He threw himself into a sideways roll, the bolt bit into the ground, and was on his feet as a second blasted him in the chest once more and knocked him onto his back with a full body spasm.

Approved +2 to speed.

Sal was back on his feet, all be it with the occasional twitch, and had turned a murderous stare on Rab before resuming his vigil of the trapped electricity that could strike from anywhere.
He couldn't follow the strikes with his eyes, that was impossible, but he could sense the build up before the initial burst and so he closed his eyes, slowed his breathing and relaxed his body somewhat.

The first bolt erupted from the side and he stepped out of its path just as another homed in on his position. He ducked under and then jumped over a third. Another came from the front as he landed and he only had time to pull back his left shoulder and arch his back so that the lightning hissed across his chest, missing it my millimetres, he flipped over back onto his feet and then all hell broke loose.

Bolts began to fire high, low and every other direction in between. He found himself, ducking, rolling, back flipping, front flipping and somersaulting just to stay ahead of the game. He landed after a third hail of deadly white energy and swore under his breath and gathered as much strength as he could into his legs, launching his body into the air as the lightning suddenly filled the entire circle. He looked down at the circle, which now appeared to have an electrical floor from this height, and saw five bolts snake up toward him, spinning and sparking as they spiralled in for the kill.

His mind went into a panic, he was in the air! No footholds to push off of! He was done for!

The attacks rose quicker than he would have liked and as the first got within a meter he roared his frustration in a quick flurry of maledictions and oaths. On instinct he kicked his legs in a motion that would have taken him out of harms way if he were on the ground. Surprisingly it had the same effect here.

Rab watched from the ground, controlling the attacks, angling them toward the dot high above him. Two seconds before Sal had been a blur, not a bolt had struck and he'd almost exhausted the trapped lightning in his attempt. This was the final challenge, manipulation of reiatsu to the point where one could literally walk on air. Sal did it without even knowing it, he noticed as the first heat seeking electrical charge missed its mark and dissipated. Obviously Sal just needed the proper motivation, he smirked and urged the other attacks onward.

Sal didn't know what to think. One minute he was about to be deep fried and the next he's ten feet away without knowing how or why. More importantly he was pondering why he wasn't plummeting to a very painful reunion with the ground. He tentatively placed both feet flat on...the air. He felt resistance, it wasn't like standing on the earth far bellow but it definitely could take his weight. Now he stood a chance he thought as the deadly missiles sped toward him. One gave a surge of speed and powered ahead of the others, he flipped over it catching some static from its tail and quicker than he thought possible he flashed to the side and then back again dodging the remaining bolts.

He looked down at Rab. "HA! I fucking did it you evil old bastARRRRDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!???" He screamed as the invisible floor gave way and he plummeted to the rotten shacks bellow.

Fun post, and very well written. +2, and well earned *thumbs up*

That gives you a 10 for speed, so thread closed.