Shikyo stood on a concrete block, 100 yards in both length and width. Surrounding the block were few trees and a pond further into the training grounds. The sun hung high into the air, causing sweat to drip from Shikyo's forehead despite the fact that he was only standing in one place. The emerald staff on his back, gave a slight hum as it sensed another Zanpakuto approaching. Although his formal training with Elder Hiroshi and Master Jocelyn was over, he still had a long way to go if he was going to achieve his goals of reaching the level of captain. And aside from performing missions he could think of no better way to accomplish this than to spar with those more powerful than him, specifically the vice-captain Kaiyou. Shikyo waitied patiently, his hands at his side as he concentrated on his breathing, working to control his reiatsu until his opponent arrived.

Kaiyo hadn't had a decent mission in a long time and she was glad to have the extra practise, worrying she was losing her once finely tuned attacks. the small blonde girl had kept a cap on her spiritual energy, justing watching her opponent for a while, she clicked her knuckles slightly, her eyes bulged with pain, she knew now why she'd never done that before. Jumping down from her tree Kaiyo marvelled at Shikyo's zanpaktou, she smiled in anticipation.

Kepping her eye one her opponent she unsheathed her zanpaktou and decided she wouldn't waste time with gauging his level, far to eager to fight she released her sword, 'Light the sky, Tenrai Zenpyou' Kaiyo took in a deep breath as she felt the tingle of energy run along her nerves, readying her stance she nodded slightly to Shikyo.

Vanishing from sight Kaiyo flash stepped to behind her opponent, swinging her sword down hard and fast across his body, smiling she prepared herself for the fight ahead.

(ooc: Assuming that we can get stats from these posts I'm going for fighting skill with this one.)

Shikyo's eyes watched carefully as his opponent arrived. A slight tinge of nervousness crept through his skin as she wasted no time in releasing her zanpakuto. He smiled inwardly as he saw the dull yellow glow that illuminated her sword, wondering if it was any indication as to what special abilities it held. However any thoughts he had were interrupted as she disappeared from view.

Instinctively Shikyo spun around, unsheathing his own zanpakuto as he was rewarded with the familiar sound of metal ringing on metal. The blow from Kaiyou had come so forcefully though that Shikyo felt that if he hadn't channeled his own reiatsu through it that she would have cut right through his zanpakuto. Pushing off against her sword, Shikyo leapt back a few feet. "You don't like to mess around do you?" Shikyo called out. "That's fine with me, Scatter the Sands Miku!"

A golden light encased his staff as the emerald portion burst into a cloud of sand that seemed to take on a life of its own, coming to a rest as it hovered over Shikyo's head. The move resulted in Miku's true form, that of a golden blade attached to the black hilt, being revealed. Sprinting toward Kaiyou, Shikyo swung his sword toward her midsection, launching into a barrage of attacks, alternating from left to right, testing his vice-captain's swordplay.

(OOC: speed point if i can please =D )

Shikyo's release was impressive and Kaiyo allowed herself a second to marvel at it, before returning to the fight grinning as she blocked the attacks ,'I like to get straight to the point' Kaiyo's sword skill was one of her better aspects of combat, it is what had earned her the rank of vice captain, she swung her sword left to right in the usual pattern the familiar clang of metal on metal rang through her ears as the fast paced attacks kept coming, the routine was quite unusual, meant to challenge her sword skill, her swung left then right, then lunged and then went right again, with a few ending variations Kaiyo grinned.

Launching herself backwards to asses the damage, his sword skill was impressive and his attacks had both power and speed, Kaiyo focused more, trying to alert her senses she spoke to her sword, 'Lets do this' she grinned. Leaping forward again she decided to test her opponent herself running straight at him until only a metre away she focused her spiritual energy at her feet and flash stepped into the air, barely giving him time to find her she moved again, this time to back in front of her opponent, Kaiyo started with a rounhouse kick aimed for his arm, follow by a timed swing of her zanpaktou aimed at the other arm, trying not to dull her attacks was the key thought in her mind, constantly sending extra spiritual energy to her hands and feet trying to make her attacks faster andharder to predict.

(ooc: fighting skill once again)

Shikyo smiled as each of his attacks were met with the resonating sound of clanging metal. It was good to know that the person he was suppose to be following was at least a competent swordsman, perhaps even better than Shikyo initially thought as she varied her counter-attacks and forced him into awkward defensive positions on multiple occasions. She wasn't the vice-captain for nothing and now Shikyo knew why. With one final assault, Kaiyou leapt backward, pronouncing the distance between the pair. However she didn't stay back for long as she sprinted forward, in what seemed to be a very rash attack. Raising his sword in a defensive position, whatever parry Shikyo was about to try would have to wait as his opponent disappeared from view when she was only a foot away.

Trying to sense where she would be, Shikyo half-turned his body, expecting her to reveal herself either behind or above him. But the intrusion of spirit energy he felt came directly from in front of him once more. His eyes and mind worked quickly enough that he was able to discern the simultaneous attacks of her kick and the approaching blade, but his body refused to move at the speed his mind worked. Deciding to block the greater of two evils, he swung his sword to his side and stopped the katana from slicing into his arm but could do nothing against the roundhouse kick planted directly into his side.

Using his own shunpo to increase the space between them once more, Shikyo built his reiatsu, encasing his left hand in the almost tangible golden energy as he raised it above his head. The sand that resided there now began to circulate around his hand, expanding until it rotated around his entire body, all the while, small pieces of the sand being converted into glass shards. He was interested to see how his opponent would handle this attack and wasted no time and thrust his fist in her direction, sending the spinning vortex of sharp glass spiraling in her direction.

Approved +2 to fighting skill for shikyo.
+1 speed for kaiyo.

(OOC: could i go for some speed again please)

Kaiyo held her stance as the apparent sand, ot dust like she had first assumed, began to change shape above Shikyo's head, until small shards of glass were spinning around his entire body, Kaiyo frowned slightly, i guess the friendly easy going spar was next door, she sighed to herself. Readying her body she began to gather her spiritual energy at her feet as the shards of glass were thrust forward to her.

Jumping into the air straight away Kaiyo knocked one piece of glass with her sword, spinning it round along her body to block another, she had to keep her eyes sharp and her reactions even sharper, she spun left to avoid another piece of glass, landing to the ground the damn things were still coming, she shun left and ducked under another, she knew she couldn't stp them all but she couldn't let that distract her from trying, one grazed her left leg as she jumped onto one had and spun to the right her sword still swinging left and right, she noticed another shard flying to her left, she stretched out her arm to block it with her sword and received another two shards in her arm. After a barrage of glass Kaiyo pulled out the glass grom her arm, she had been hit by seven, three on her arm, one on her left leg, one along her cheek and two on her back, repositioning herself, she smiled over to Shikyo in appreciation, my turn.

Her feet still agile she leapt into the air, shunpo'ing to abover her taget, trying to make a strike attack the most obvious choice she raised her zanpaktou abover her head and called, 'Raikou Mato' a bolt of lightning shot from the edge of her blade and headed or Shikyo's chest, Kaiyo hadn't wanted to hurt him too badly so she had held back on her attack, not realeasing the full force of it but still hoping she had used anough to make the attack hit, laeping backwards with some force she skidded along the groun. Running forward once more to Shikyo, her sword at her side, when she got in front of him she leapt over his head, swinging her zanpaktou along his back as she went, and grinding to a halt behind him, smiling.

(Kidou please)

Shikyo felt a slight tinge of remorse as he released the attack, wondering if perhaps he had taken it a bit to far. He was unsure how his vice-captain would respond but she showed once more why she had been promoted, expertly spinning her blade to block some of the shards while simultaneously using her shunpo to dodge the pieces that seeped through her primary defense. No one was perfect, and it would have been impossible to dodge the all-consuming attack, but Shikyo had to admit he was impressed with Kaiyou's response. However his praise would have to wait as she wasted no time in charging directly toward him once the assault completed itself.

Twirling his blade as he awaited her arrival, she cut his wait time in half as she shunpo'd high above him. He expected her to try some sort of downward slash, something he no doubt would have parried, but instead she activated her own Zanpakuto's ability, "Raikou Mato!" The hair on the back of Shikyo's neck stood on end as he felt the positive energy particles building on his chest, miliseconds before the electrical energy discharged from the tip of Kaiyou's sword, striking Shikyo with such force that he was propelled backward. "Son of a..." Feeling the hole in his cloak, the smell of burning skin assaulted his senses causing his eyes to water for a second. Clearing his vision he looked up just in time to see Kaiyou flipping over him, landing behind him as he turned to block the attack with his own blade.

Thankfully he was successful and stopped his movements for a moment as he evaluated the situation. She was obviously the better swordsman, or woman as the case may be, and it was apparent that she was quite skilled in the use of flash-step, leaving Shikyo with one more option before he would take on drastic measures. He had wanted this training after all, how was he going to get better if he didn't battle those stronger than himself. It was time to try something he hadn't tried since earlier in his time in the academy, but he felt he would be able to execute it much more effectively now. Extending his free left hand in front of him, he concentrated as he gathered his reiatsu into his palm. His hair stood on end once more as electrical energy filled the area, this time however it was the negatively-charged particles that gathered in his hand so he would not be on the receiving end of an attack this time. "Way of Destruction #4..." His incantation seemed to pause as he used his shunpo toward Kaiyou in the middle of his kidou, appearing with his electrically charged palm only inches away from her chest. " Byakurai!" The electrical energy expelled from his hand with such force and his target was so close that the release of the energy sent him back a few feet. Holding his sword in front of his face, he waited for his opponent's inevitable retaliation.

(OOC: can i please earn a sword skill point here, if i can ^^)

Kaiyo felt a tinge of guilt as her attack hit Shikyo and she half wanted to stop the sparr, staring into his eyes she changed her mind, he wanted to train and she said she would as well, jumping backwards her face dropped as he began casting kidou.

During her time at the academy Kaiyo had passed all of her classes exceptionally, except Kidou, in that class she just managed to blow up the classroom three times, to make matters even worse Shikyo had decided he'd steal her idea, changing the range of his attack and shunpo'ing to straight in front of her, Kaiyo frowned a little in the few seconds she to react.

The attack was strong and fast, with little time to react and no way to counter the spell Kaiyo simply managed one thing, 'Nice attack' she nodded befre sticking her zanpaktou out in front of her, she had been lucky he had used a lightning spell, and she hoped Tenrai Zenpyou could manage her plan. The plan was simple really, Tenrai Zenpyou controlled lightning, usually a useless feature unless lightning was provided, Kaiyo had never tried this before but she figured there was little harm in trying, she try and take the attack in with Tenrai Zenpyou and then push it back at Shikyo; at least that was the plan.

Kaiyo had learnt early on that Kidou lightning and her zanpaktou's lightning were very different, but that didn't seem to stop her, she took the hit, the electrical energy ricosheing along her blade and her hands jolting her whole body and forcing her backwards, Kaiyo figured just pushing it back wouldn't work, she'd have to circuit it, and i would at the very least be uncomfortable, using her spiritual energy to force the lightning along her arm and shoulder and back onto her blade had taken a hell of a lot of effort, but she whipped her zanpaktou forward and surely enough another bolt of lightning shot from it aiming for Shikyo.

Kaiyo began panting heavily, internal bleeding would probably be the result of the little electricity lesson, or at least that was her hoped result, if could have been a lot worse, she could still feel the burn along her shoulders, a burn given only by demon arts. Kaiyo could feel the seering pain still hovering in her shoulders, she gripped her sword tighter as she tried to ignore it.

(fighting skill)

Shikyo half-smiled as he realized his attack had hit, glad that his combo attack worked. However his glee was short-lived as he felt Kaiyou's rising reiatsu, looking wonderingly at her as he saw the lightning from his attack transformed by her spiritual pressure and redirected through her sword...right at him. He hadn't anticipated that she could control the electricity formed by Kidou but it was not a mistake he was planning to make again and it was a lesson that left a second burn mark in his upper left shoulder and sent him spiraling onto the ground. "Interesting." He said aloud as he lifted himself off the ground. Looking around the area he flared his reiatsu for a moment, encasing his hand in the golden energy once more as he recalled the scattered glass shards around the arena back to him, converting it to sand as it hovered above his head once more. "If I would have done that earlier maybe I could have blocked that, but if there's one thing that you know about me, know this, I never make the same mistake twice."

Twirling his hand above his head he used his spiritual pressure to compact the sand onto his left arm, forming a slender glass blade that sprouted from the end of his fist. Rubbing his own Zanpakuto against his created blade, he used his shunpo to close the distance between himself and Kaiyou, immediately launching into a series of double-handed attacks, his Zanpakuto in his right hand attacking in a crossing pattern from left to right, while the glass blade attached to his left hand executed double and triple thrusts. He knew she had better skill with her sword but he hoped that adding a second blade for her to worry about would even the playing field and give him time to think of another plan.

(OOC: spirit if deemed worthy please and thank you's ^^)

Kaiyo grinned as her attack hit Shikyo, he really was in this for the training and he wasn't backing down, Kaiyo had yet to decided if this was good or bad, the second glass blade however, definately bad.

Her shoulders were still stiff from using her previous attack, and from what she could tell Shikyo hadn't noticed, also unsure if this point was good or bad, Kaiyo swung her sword left to right blocking what she could, but the combination of two swords and a lot of shoulder pain a lovely hole in her left shoulder, shunpo'ing to behind Shikyo she assed the damage, she'd gone for a hit with the glass sword in the hopes it would be less powerful.

Looking up at Shikyo she grinned, her really wanted to play and she decided she wouldn't hold it off any longer. Standing in hre combat stance, Kaiyo watched as the ribbons attaatched to her blade hilt began to dance, shaking as she increased her spiritual energy, she focused from the core of her being and pushed her energy around her body, at the same time adding an extra layer to her wounds so far, focusing probably too much at her shoudler she had managed to stop the bleeding, not wanting to hold off the battle any longer she swung her sword down.

Shunpo'ing to right in front of Shikyo Kaiyo aimed an attack at his glass sword, her spiritual energy running through her blade, she had to at least dent it, flipping with one leg in the air she swung round a kick at her opponent, landing she dropped to the ground and swept her leg across his feet. Stil focusing on her spiritual energy, trying to make attacks sharper and harder.

(intelligence)

Perflectly planned precision with every slice, with every swing of his blade, Shikyo was not surprised as he felt as if he was gaining the upper-hand in their sword play. Something was off with her, and although he couldn't pinpoint it yet he knew enough that he planned to press his advantage as much as possible. Raising his right blade high in the air, he feinted an attack, hoping that when she rose her sword to block it he would be able to land an attack on her stomach with his foot. He didn't get a chance to put his plan into motion however as she disappeared from view. "Damn shunpo." He muttered as he turned around.

Immediately he knew that she was finally starting to take him seriously. The innocent look in her eyes faded away as her resolve burned through her pupils, the unmistakable flames of one's rising spiritual energy. The rise in spiritual pressure around him that quickly, caused him to lose his balance, albeit only for a second but a second was all she needed. She appeared right in front of him, her reiatsu dancing up and down her blade, empowering it as she sliced clean through the glass blade, shattering it. But she didn't stop there as she aimed a kick directly for his face. In his haste he mistakenly placed both hands to protect his head and was unable to do anything about her sweeping motion of his feet. Falling to the ground at the same time as the glass shards all around him he layed on the ground for a moment, analyzing the situation. Whatever advantage he'd previously had was gone now and she had taken her own abilities to the next level by unleashing a greater amount of her spiritual pressure.

Replaying the fight in his head, he attempted to recognize any weaknesses in her defenses, anything that would give him an advantage again. His eyes shot open wide as he flipped himself off the ground and standing in front of his opponent. Regulating his breathing he held Miku tightly as he unleashed his own spiritual energy, allowing the golden light to illuminate his body, whipping around him with such force that the concrete arena, or what was left of it, was decimated into dust. Raising his hands to either side he called the sand to him, the sand that was his in the beginning and the newly formed sand resulting from their fight, gathering it around him before releasing it in three waves at his opponent. The sand was nothing but sand and wouldn't injure her, but it woud impair her vision just long enough for Shikyo to execute his plan. Gathering what was left of his spirit energy he called, "Way of Binding #12: Ambush Flare!" He circulated around his opponent, hidden within the sand storm, planting the pieces of the net until it was complete. Now all he had to do was wait. Wherever Kaiyou stepped next would result in her being trapped in the net and then he would unveil his true plan.

(OOC: erm, could i please go for a point in Kidou...maybe intelligence )

Kaiyo had dropped Shikyo to the ground, onto the brocken glass, that part hadn't been in her plan but she decided she could live with it. Shikyo decided to raise his own spiritual energy, Kaiyo couldn't help but grin at the prospect. He called out more sand this time, Kaiyo mentally cursed herself for making damage to the surroundings; unusually he didn't even try and turn it to glass, Kaiyo knew he wouldn't waste an attack so there had to be a reason for it. She decided she'd wait, he let off the send in three waves, she turned her head at the first one then realised, he stopping me seeing!

Kaiyo put her sword horizontally in front of her eyes, each time using it to move the sand from her vision, the sand was still spinning around her but she managed to see something, he was using Kidou. Kaiyo thought for a moment, and only for a moment which type of Kidou would work best if she didn't see; dammit, why the hell don't i know enough about Kidou!. Deepin in concerntration for a moment, she could had hit herself; the Kidou net! Kaiyo had three choices; try and find the safe spot inside the net, use Kidou herself or use her zanpaktou's attack, she knewoption one would take too long and chances to find the safe spot and slim to none. option three would most likely hurt Shikyo, and not in a small way, that attack she had noly leanrt as well, which left the blonde girl with option two.

Kaiyo shut her eyes for a moment, with her vision impaired she had no chance of finding Shikyo, she breathed in and out carefully, sensing his spiritual energy, he was standing still, dammit, he's already set the net, taht means i can't move Openeing her eyes she could see the net around her, she didn't move her feet, even an inch and the trap would get tighter, turning her head to Shikyo she called, 'way of binding one, restrain!' IF her attack had landed the sand would drop, giving her back her vision, if not; then only option three was left.

Kaiyo:
+1 Speed
+1 Fighting
+.5 Spirit
+1 Intell

Shikyo:
+.5 Kidou
+ 1 Fighting
+ 1 Intell

The sand swirled around his opponent, obscuring her vision as Shikyo finished setting his trap. He was feeling pretty confident, almost overly so, thinking that there wasn't anyway she would be able to escape the net. However once again he underestimated her, the fact that she was a vice-captain continually slipping from his mind. From the center of the sand he felt her gathering her reiatsu and releasing an attack in his direction. He heard what she said but couldn't make it out completely, but he knew immediately when it hit him which one she had used. His arms locked behind his back as an invisible restraint restricted his arms from moving. Without his fists to guide it, the sand around Kaiyou slowly died down and he could see that she still stood in the same spot she was in before. Why hasn't she moved? He thought. Had she seen through his plan so easily? She had used a long range attack and he had assumed it was because she couldn't see and was firing blindly at his reiatsu, but what if it was because she knew about the trap and was trying to figure out a way around it.

He scowled for a second as he realized that despite his own strength and intelligence, she had bested him time and time again. Smiling a bit as he called the sand back to his golden blade, he sealed his Zanpakuto before speaking to her, "You've won this round." He stated, a hint of regret in his voice. "I feel confident knowing that someone of your caliber is my vice-captain." As he spoke he dispersed his previous kidou, removing the net from the area around her. "We will definitely have to do this again sometime."