As Kaito complimented his initial strike, Ryouta's face noticeably brightened; he hoped that now Kaito would want to stop the fight. His face fell (somewhat comically) when Kaito said he would counter. Ryouta actually chuckled a little bit as Kaito's blade barely put a scratch on the back of his armor. His joy was over quickly; Ryouta looked down at Kaito's sword with distaste. "White Crawl!" said Ryouta. The area of ground around him seemed to explode up into the air. (kido spells can be cast without saying the actual number- as demonstrated by Renji in Hueco Mundo- though his spell failed epically because he sucks at kido)

Ryouta was happy to see that Kaito had retreated a little to avoid being knocked unconscious for even a second- such a lapse in concentration would be fatal (if Ryouta was an enemy). Ryouta smiled. "I don't have any assumptions- as a teacher of mine used to say, 'Never assume. It makes an ass out of u and me.' Hehehe." He looked at Kaito curiously now, wondering why somebody who was outwardly so lazy was so determined to get stronger. It seemed a contradiction. Ryouta made a mental note to perhaps even tail Kaito himself, instead of having an Onmitsukido member do it for him.

Ryouta spoke aloud again. "OK big guy, lend me some of that battle spirit ya always have, huh?" He began to glow with reiatsu as Raikou Arashi added power to him. He seemed to pulse, and bits of earth and rock rose into the air around him from the sheer force of it. Ryouta's visor/helmet and the armor covering his biceps and legs disappeared and became swirling black cloud. Only his torso armor, gauntlets, and groin protector (not sure what that's called, but it'll do) remained.

The earth and rock that was floating around him crumbled away into nothingness as it came into contact with the black cloud. Ryouta formed all of it into a pair of dense black balls (about the size of a basketball). They were so dense and dark that they seemed to pull light into them (though of course that's an optical illusion- Ryouta's bankai does not control gravity or light). "Go!" Ryouta said with an uncharacteristic inflection of joy in his voice. The black balls shot forth from the open palms of his hands and began circling Kaito with extreme speed, and seemingly in random revolutions. (think a helium atom) As they revolved around Kaito, they got closer and closer to him, obviously an attempt to cut off escape.

Ryouta gestured with his right hand and the balls seemed to explode, covering Kaito. The mass of cloud began to swirl into a small tornado-like formation, and it crackled with blue electricity. The tornado kept gaining speed as it turned; lightning would occasionally shoot from it and destroy some bit of building or something around it. Ryouta was slightly uncomfortable with using such a powerful technique against a fellow Shinigami- but he had asked for it, after all.

ooc: whatever the admins think this post is good for, award points please

(Kido. Whichever one is most suitable for this one. Ryouta-san, you are an awesome Rper... I have say this battle is alot more fun than I expected it to be)

As the cloud surrounded his body, Kaito wanted to see whether or not he could discern what kind of technique it was that Ryouta had used against him; unfortunately Kaito quickly found out what kind of technique it was as a bit of lightening flashed by his body and left a gash across his chest. The air around him seemed to crackle with energy as it began to glow and Kaito's eyes widened as he realized just what kind of technique it was, "Shii--" he said as the lightening struck rapidly around him leaving lacerations all over his body. Kaito let out a scream as the pain continued to build up as the lightening continued to strike him, but he never gave up on victory as he gritted his teeth and tried to figure away out of the mess that he was in. "This technique is a nasty ass technique...Ryouta-san..." he thought to himself as he had trouble focusing his mind and thoughts as the lightening continued to chop him to bit, but he clenched his hands as he forced himself to ignore the pain. As he distanced himself from the pain a solution hit him as if it were a lightening bolt and a smile spread across his face as began to gather his reiatsu into his next move.

"Mother Earth, answer my call and punish this offender with your limitless power, Bakudo # 44, Earth's Fatal Embrace" he called out as he focused the reaitsu underneath his feet as it began to swirl around him eventually covering up his head; it completely protected him from the rest of the technique. While within the circle, Kaito dropped to his knee as he the rest of the pain seeped into throughout his being; he knew that he had more left in him, but it was annoying that even after all this his zanpakutou wouldn't say anything to him. Sighing Kaito to his blade and jammed it up into the roof of the so that the blade would absorb some of the lightening that was crackling around within the cloud as he ran through everything that Ryouta had done and said. After he felt as if the zanpakutou had gathered enough of the lightening, Kaito focused his reiatsu once again; he knew that he had to act quickly since the dome had taken away his air supply as well so he placed his hand on the ground and spread his consciousness beyond that of the cloud as he tried to sense where Ryouta's position was. As he locked on to him, Kaito gathered his reaitsu and sent it into the ground knowing that things would get a lot worse before they got better, "Rise from the bowels of the earth and trample thine enemies with your weight, Ancient, Hado # 44, Stone Tablet of the Ancients" he said calmly.

The knew that wherever Ryouta was standing he had no idea of the attack that was dwelling underneath his feet (since the your own reiatsu is channeling through the air as well. My technique is nothing more than a blimp on the radar to you.), and Kaito also knew that the time to get out of the dome had also come since his breaths were starting to get short and raspy. Reaching up to snatch his zanpakutou out of the roof of the dome, Kaito whispered, "Let mine gauntlets sparkle with the hardness of diamonds! Let mine forearms hold fast with the steadiness of a mountain!, Bakudo # 5, Gaurd" and kido covered his hand as he grasped the hilt of the zanpakuto that was now charged with Ryouta's lightening. Breathing even harder at this point, Kaito ripped the blade out of the roof and then placed his hand flat on the ground once again as he called out, "Destruction! Surround my body! Send any around me to the realm of the the unconscious, where dreams do not reach!, Hado # 20, White Crawl" causing a burst of reiatsu to blow away both the dome and the cloud that was outside of the dome. When the smoke cleared, Kaito was holding the crackling zanpakuto and he was staring out at Ryouta, "Ryouta-kun...your arrogance is quite unnerving..." he started off, "...you say that you assume nothing in that cute little misnomer yet all your actions say otherwise. A shinigami like you should be able to see that just because you have a connection to your zanpakutou doesn't make you unbeatable..." said as his eyes glazed over a bit.

His words were true and Kaito felt the weight of them more than anything else as he thought about what it would be like to be able to connect with his zanpakutou, but he also hoped that he wouldn't allow that connection to cloud his judgment and make him arrogant. Sighing he stared back at Ryouta, "Please don't take my words as judgment, but I learned that the only way a shinigami can truly master his zanpakutou is not just by beating it into submission...its by understanding that you are weak without your zanpakutou..." he finished as he raised his hands. With that said, Kaito raised his hand into the air and the huge stone tablet came out of the ground behind Ryouta; without saying anything, Kaito brought his hand in a downward motion and the stone came crashing down with a speed even Ryouta couldn't have dodged. Knowing that the fight was more than likely not over, Kaito prepared himself for another assault as a cloud of dust overtook him from the attack; by now he was sure that the higher ups of the Sereitei were very aware of the little skirmish that two high level shinigami were having.

ooc: why thank you

Though Ryouta couldn't really sense Kaito's reiatsu, he could sense that his lightning was no longer cutting/burning into Kaito's flesh. He must be using some kind of kido to stop my attack...hmm... Ryouta pulled back his attack, reforming his armor onto himself and looked at the mound of earth in front of him. He trapped himself? Interestin', Ryouta thought. He was about to cast a kido spell to break apart the earth when the earth mound exploded, pelting him with bits of dirt. He waved cheerfully at Kaito, but his face hardened at Kaito's words. "I didn't beat Raikou Arashi into submission, we're partners," he said petulantly.

And then he looked up to see the stone tablet coming down at him. "Water Slicing Blade!" he managed to get out before the thing smashed into him. His spell had not been intended to attack Kaito with- instead, all it did was convert several feet of the ground underneath him into mud. Though the tablet smashed into him, it merely drove him into the ground; a little bruised, possibly a couple of fractured ribs, but otherwise unharmed, due to the soft mud and his armor. Ryouta considered just staying under the tablet and sleeping for a while. The mud was cool and very refreshing. But...he had promised Kaito. *internal sigh*

Now, how to get out of this dilemma? There was a very heavy weight on top of him, and now that he thought about it, his air supply was going to run out eventually. "Todoroke," Ryouta said. BOOM! The tablet shot straight up into the air about twenty feet or so- Ryouta used the opportunity to roll away and stand, so that when the tablet crashed back down to the ground, he was no longer underneath it.

Ryouta looked at Kaito and smiled. There was a little blood on his teeth, and the smile was...disturbing to say the least. He looked at his mud-covered armor and said, "Aw, and it looked so nice..." Inwardly, he thought, Maybe if he can't see or feel me...he won't be able to do anything. All of Ryouta's armor dissolved (except for the gauntlets and claws- the only parts that don't dissolve) and became dark cloud. The clouds surrounded him and grew, obscuring him from sight. Soon dark thunderheads surrounded him and began to swirl.

Ryouta gestured with his right hand. A section of black cloud moved with astonishing speed to smash down at the area where he remembered Kaito to be standing (picture Byakuya's Senbonzakura and you'll have a good idea of what I mean, though with black cloud instead of pink blades). He pretty much was using what general feel he had of Kaito's reiatsu to locate him and smash the cloud into. To further throw off Kaito, he walked amidst his clouds, constantly using it to obscure his own reiatsu signature. "Get outta this one, Kaito-san," he whispered over the howling sound of the clouds.

ooc: intel please

(Kido please. Thank you judges)

Kaito heard Ryouta yell out "Water Slicing Blade" and he immediately guessed what had happened as he watched the tablet fall upon the shinigami so he wasn't the least bit surprised when Ryouta stood up once again with a smile full of blood. Rubbing his head Kaito listened as Ryouta explained to him that he was his zanpakutou's partner and not simply his too; shaking his head as Ryouta's attack came at him, "That's what I mean...you aren't an equal to your zanpakutou...you are part of it...just as it is part of you...at least that's what I believe..." he said in a low tone as he gripped his own blade. The lightening still crackled around the zanpakutou's blade and since he had the kido "Guard" still in effect in his right hand where he was holding the zanpakutou Kaito wasn't afraid of what would happen to him. His upper garments nearly completely removed at this point, and the bottom of his shinigami robes were intact, but still singed along with being tattered. Sighing Kaito retreated using his fastest shunpo into a tree and watched as the attack seemed to follow his movement, "Damn...so he is hiding his movement and using my reiatsu as a lock on target..." he realized. The only way that Kaito could think to handle this particular situation was to hide his reiatsu once again; as he did this he quickly flash stepped to where the large could surrounding Ryouta was still swirling and crackling angrily.

Maintaining his reiatsu at a near indetectable level, Kaito calmly stood at a safe distance away from the cloud surrounding Ryouta, "Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six!, Bakuda # 61, Six Rods Prison of Light" finished. The light split into six rods as they closed around the cloud and here is where Kaito's plan was a bit of a shot in the dark. He wasn't sure whether the kido would bind the clouds or whether they would bind Ryouta himself, but the fact of the matter was that Ryouta's movement would be limited. Then raising both is palms at the cloud, Kaito called out, "By their hands, drain them of their gifts, Bakudo # 32, 7 Pillars of Sin". He knew that this time his kido would either absorb the cloud made of reiatsu or it would strike Ryouta himself draining him of some his power. He knew that the cloud made up of reiatsu was part of Ryouta's armor, but at the same time he knew that even without the armor Ryouta was still a powerful opponent so Kaito backed up a safe distance away to observe what would happen next.

*sigh* Ryouta sighed in annoyance as Kaito's reiatsu signature vanished from his "radar" so to speak. This was getting somewhat irritating, but he'll give himself away eventually, thought Ryouta. Probably with some form of kido...that's what I'd do... His answer came when six flashes of light emerged from outside the cloud. Ryouta watched impassively as his Shielding Aura spell took the attack and failed to stop it; Ryouta was bound. Ryouta estimated that he had perhaps five more minutes of it left before he would be unable to maintain it. Thankfully though, there was silver lining; in firing the spell off, Kaito had given his position away.

The Seven Pillars of Sin took him by surprise, but unlike the six beams of light, they were not as high level, and the Shielding Aura was able to stop it. Ryouta smiled. If he was to be bound- so would Kaito. It was a good thing he could control Raikou Arashi's power with his mind alone. Ryouta used Raikou Arashi's Banrai ability- the ability to solidify air. But this time, instead of using it to land a seemingly invisible blow, he merely solidified the air around Kaito's feet and halfway up his shins and maintained it.

This next part would require extreme focus. Ryouta dispelled his Shielding Aura early, and concentrated all his attention on Raikou Arashi. While he held Kaito's feet/shins, Ryouta caused some of the dark swirling cloud to condense into two dense black balls as he had done before. He left a little of the cloud to continue to obscure/protect him. Each of the balls split into two smaller ones, and then these balls elongated and seemed to sharpen, forming four identical spears of dark, crackling energy. Ryouta focused them with his mind, and then fired them all, one aimed for each of Kaito's limbs. Obviously, he had no intention of fatally injuring Kaito, and so, they were aimed at non-fatal spots.

ooc: intel please

(Intel here please. Also Ryouta, all this information is actually true about how storms are formed and although it is debated upon whether there is a way to negate the effects of a storm the method that I'm using is based upon an actual theory that has been tested upon a man generated storm. Haha I guess I kinda got into this story. Feel free to check it out on wikipedia and you can also check most meteorologist's sites)

Kaito could sense that Ryouta's powers were shifting into another attack, but what he couldn't understand why his kido hadn't stopped his movement in the first place so he released the kido and waited to see if an attack would come. Suddenly Kaito saw as the two pieces of the large cloud surrounding Ryouta broke off and began to shape into objects that looked as if they could do some serious damage to Kaito's body. As Kaito attempted to shift his feet, he realized that the air around his feet seemed to have been solidified by reiatsu and he looked back up as the now sharpened clouds made their way towards his body, "Ryouta..." he muttered. Sighing Kaito pointed his palms palms parallel to the ground as he quickly uttered, "7 Pillars of Sin" into the air as his hands began to glow with the kido energy and 7 pillars of reiatsu exploded from his palms. The air that seemed to have a vice grip on his legs seemed to let go of him; luckily it was in the nick of time as Kaito flash stepped away as the clouds sailed to the area which only seconds ago his being had occupied.

"Ryouta-san..." Kaito said from his place just a couple of paces away from the cloud covered lieutenant, "...I think it's time I tested out a hypothesis..." he finished as he ran at the lieutenant with a cold look in his eyes. He finally used the zanpakutou in his hands that was still crackling with the lightening from Ryouta's attack as he swung at what the cloud attempting to cancel out some of the clouds reiatsu with a similar reiatsu attack. Kaito wasn't surprised when it seemed as if the cloud crackled a little bit more and then suddenly dispersed into the air, "So it is as I thought..." he reflected. Leaping back a couple of paces, Kaito began to explain to Ryouta his discovery, "Ryouta-san...do you know what causes a storm?" he asked the lieutenant as he stared up into the sky. "Generally, thunderstorms require three ingredients to form which are: moisture, an unstable airmass, and a lifting force" he continued. "I've been trying to think of Raikou Arashi's abilities and they are all in some way a means of manipulating the air mass and the lifting force since moisture is already in the air..." he said now circling Ryouta, "that means if I can negate even one small aspect of that ability for a short amount of time in this case the lifting ability...your bankai's ability is going to be a lot harder to maintain"

Stopping his circling motion, Kaito looked at the cloud where Ryouta was enshrouded, "That means, Ryouta-san, by using a bit of your own power..." Kaito called out as he held up the crackling zanpakutou, "I can disrupt your attack, but it doesn't ensure whether I can defeat you though..." he calmly stated. Grasping the hilt of his zanpakutou, Kaito faced Ryouta, "Well then...this may be the final scene if it doesn't work..." he told himself as he flash stepped in front of the cloud and began hacking away at it numerous yet quick slices attempting to use the energy created from Ryouta's attack to disrupt his bankai's ability.

Ryouta smiled. "True true true, very true. But that approach is like...trying to transport all the water in a lake to another one, with just a measurin' cup to move the water." With that statement, the full might of Ryouta's storm came down on Kaito. Five towering pillars of blackness surrounded Kaito; the tops curved in and slammed down, and the pillars came together blindingly fast. "No one can swing their katana that fast," said Ryouta aloud. He watched as his cloud roiled with a fury that was both terrible and strangely beautiful at the same time. Ryouta increased his concentration, and in doing so, drastically increased the intensity and frequency of the electric flashes in the cloud.

They appeared so often within the cloud that it was possible to see an almost steady glow of electric blue from the outside. Ryouta looked down at the six golden beams of light binding him and muttered, "By their hands, drain them of their gifts. Bakudo no Sanjuni: 7 Pillars of Sin!" The pillars appeared out of nowhere and attached to the six golden beams of light, which began to waver. They eventually crackled away into nothingness, as there was no steady stream of reiatsu keeping them intact.

Now that his hands were free, Ryouta pointed his finger at the cloud. "Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into six! Bakudo no Rokujuichi: Rikujōkōrō!" Six beams of light shot from his finger into the dense cloud, where Ryouta could detect Kaito's reiatsu and position by the cloud around him. "I'm takin' a leaf outta your book, Kaito-san!" he said jovially.

ooc: intel please

(Spirit Power please)

At this point, Kaito wasn't sure whether or not his ability to see Ryouta would negatively affect his fighting abilities, but he was sure that he had certaintly heard Ryouta brush off his discovery with a flippant remark, "Ryouta-san...is really a shinigami who is full of himself..." Kaito noted. He heard several kido spells being called out, but it didn't matter to him since his strength was a bit more than Ryouta probably could estimate, "If I can channel the power that is within my zanpakutou I can still use it to defend myself from the attack" Kaito thought. He didn't have much time to gather the reiatsu into himself, but he knew that it didn't leave him much time so he without thinking much thought, he plunged his blade into the spiritual chain of his soul. Crying out in pain as he could feel the blade slipping closer and closer to the source of his soul's power, Kaito pushed until that he could feel the tip of the blade touching the core of his being, but once it came to this point he stopped the blade as the clouds closed in on him. Breathing in an even tone, Kaito absorbed the crackling energy into his own being and it hurt him to introduce foreign power into his own body, but he realized that it was possibly the only way that he could manage to win.

Once all the reiatsu from the zanpakutou was assimilated into his body, Kaito began to crackle with energy that had a violent reaction to his body as hooked around him to the clouds closing around his body, "Hopefully my theory is correct or I'm in big trouble..." Kaito hoped. Mixing his own reiatsu with the energy that had been absorbed into his being, Kaito filled his body with huge sums of energy and the closed his eyes as he released it all at once as the pain ripped through his body with merciless fury. The power of the reiatsu that Kaito let rip through his body blew away the clouds that Ryouta had created only to reveal the "Pillar of Sins" and the "Six Bars of Light" kido flying towards his already weakened body, but he ddn't know how he was going to handle them. In a last ditch effort Kaito Kaito gathered reiatsu into his throbbing muscles as he leaped straight into the air just barely managing to dodge the attacks that were closing in on him. Landing into a branch panting Kaito thought about a number of different ways in which he could counter Ryouta without ending up in more pain than he already was; in truth Kaito had much more strength than he was letting on, but he also didnt want to keep fighting any longer.

"Ryouta-san...how about you just tell me how to connect to one's zanpakutou?" he said with a laugh as he winced through the pain that spread through his body, "...the only reason that I came to fight you was for this purpose was simply so that I can connect with it, but the stupid thing won't respond to me..." he finished.

"..." Ryouta looked simultaneously annoyed and incredulous. "If that's all ya wanted t'know...why'd we hafta fight again?" Ryouta sighed. "Well, I'll help ya out anyway." Ryouta sealed his Zanpakuto- his gauntlets vanished and became his ninjato, the dark clouds still whirling around the battlefield faded away. Ryouta smiled. "Now, I'm no expert on Zanpakuto; I can only tell ya about my own experience." He smiled even wider. "Luckily, I have someone t'help me out."

Ryouta concentrated, and his reiatsu began to fluctuate, it seemed to split and then...there was a flash of yellow light, of blue lightning, and standing next to Ryouta was a 10 foot tall humanoid albino lion in resplendent black armor. "How are ya big guy?" Ryouta hugged the lion warmly. "Doin' well?"

"As always," said the lion. "Who is that?" He pointed at Kaito.

"Oh, that's Kaito-san; we were fightin' him just now. He wants t'hear about how to form a connection with his Zanpakuto," Ryouta explained.

"Hmm..." Raikou Arashi did not say anything else. Ryouta waited for a second to see if Raikou Arashi had anything to contribute, but Raikou Arashi still did not speak.

"Well..." Ryouta looked at Kaito. "I'm sure ya're aware that a Zanpakuto is a part of the soul of the Shinigami that wields it. For me...Raikou Arashi, he manifested himself in battle. Like..." Ryouta looked like he was searching for a way to explain it better. "Ya know how I really don't like t'fight, right? Well, it'd be weird- in the middle of a fight, I'd feel like this joy, this thrill, this sense that was me, and not me. My first indicator of Raikou Arashi."

Raikou Arashi smirked. "I remember that. You were not very receptive at the time- I could only convey emotions to you, no conscious thought, no images. It was pretty...sad, as the expression goes."

Ryouta ignored that. "After a bit of resistance, I opened myself up to those new...emotions. Soon after, I started hearin' Raikou Arashi's voice in my head. And after that, he'd appear to me in dreams." Ryouta paused a moment brush his messy hair out of his eyes. "Finally, I sat down and just sort of...reached out to Raikou Arashi. Like really meditated, ya know? And well...yeah. I hope that was helpful."

ooc: not sure if this is worth anything, but i guess it could go intel or spirit power. idk

(Spirit Power please)

Kaito nodded his head as he listened to what Ryouta had said while at the same time glancing at the wound near his belly that he had inflicted upon himself, "Well then...Ryouta-san. If what you say is true then I should feel excitement or some emotion that feels foreign to me, but still familiar to me at the same time when in battle...?" asked with a smirk on his face. Shaking his head he began to stand upon his two legs once more as he felt the wear of the battle continue to weigh down upon him, "Geez...Ryouta-san...you sure don't know how to read a situation at all...I was trying to get out of fighting, but with your reasoning I have no choice, but to fight..." he continued as he rubbed his head with his left hand. Appearing in front of Ryouta instantaneously through the use of shunpo, "This battle has been more than a pain in the ass for me, but in the end it seems only through combat can one achieve a more thorough understanding of one's self..." Kaito concluded. Coming out of his thoughts, Kaito raised his now smirking face to Ryouta, "Now then..." he started to say as he raised his blade towards Ryouta once more, "How about we stop mind games for a little bit and just let loose with a full power?" Kaito finished. While he felt exhaustion pouring through his body in torrents and he still didn't feel any motivation through his body, he said those words hoping that at the very least Ryouta would get inspired and thus push him to increase his fighting ability.

Forcing reiatsu through his body once again so that it exploded violently in a dark purple flare of light from his body, Kaito watched as the surrounding area was blown back; this time he even saw Ryouta take a step back, but he was sure that it was probably to analyze Kaito's next move. "Ryouta-san....I thought I said no more thinking..." he whispered as his eyes looked as if they were in a sleepy daze once again, but it was really complete focus in the following movements. Without warning Kaito flash stepped into a crouched position in front of Ryouta and held his blade at the vice captain's neck, "If you don't mind I think you should do your bankai for this one....fukutaichou..." Kaito added sarcastically. He wouldn't attack Ryouta without the other shinigami being at full strength, but he also wasn't going to allow the other shinigami to one up him in the intimidation arena. Watching Ryouta with the same sleep dazed eyes, Kaito became aware that his reiatsu was still rising and even though he didn't show it he was sure that this feeling was the resolve that he had once learned to tap into when he trained under Rab Nesbit.

"...What? More fightin'? *really loud sigh*" Ryouta rubbed his eyes as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep. "Why??? Haven't ya done enough fightin' to realize when ya're feelin' somethin' different?" He sighed again and beckoned to Raikou Arashi. Raikou Arashi turned into spirit particles and flowed toward Ryouta's Zanpakuto again. They glowed and vibrated briefly, and then were still.

"I don't wanna use Bankai again...it requires a lot of effort..." Ryouta said lazily. "But...hmm...well maybe...Hado no Nijuichi: Sekienton!" There was a burst of red smoke that filled the area. Ryouta used the opportunity to flash step about 20 feet away. He then felt around for Kaito's reiatsu, and upon finding it, muttered, "Bankai." Ryouta flash stepped, fully armored, toward Kaito and aimed a opening slash at his right shoulder.

I'm goin' to put him on the defensive, thought Ryouta. That'll probably bring out his Zanpakuto, hehehe. He began attacking Kaito full on from the front with as much speed as he could muster. Not only did he use his claws, he used his legs, his elbows, to attack. His movements were a blur; a flash of blue and black as he aimed more blows at Kaito.

Ryouta jumped and twirled, aiming a roundhouse kick at the bridge of Kaito's nose. Before he landed, he used his momentum to bring in a blow at Kaito's temple with the back of his left fist. As he landed, he crouched and lashed out like some sort of wild cat at his knees and inner thighs. Ryouta flash stepped up slightly, driving a knee toward Kaito's septum, and when this failed, he fell down and aimed several small but deadly swipes at Kaito's jaw and throat, as well as some stabs at his floating ribs.

Ryouta continued his onslaught by dissolving his helmet and leg armor, allowing for greater movement and perception. And now he was suddenly behind Kaito, lashing out with a kick at the back of Kaito's right knee. As he was doing this, the dissolved armor, the dark cloud, it formed into two twirling swords that proceeded to engage Kaito.

"Come out, Kaito's Zanpakuto, I'm gettin' a little tired," Ryouta said aloud.

ooc: fighting skill please

(Speed please. Thanks Ryouta. I hope you had as much fun as I did. It was awesome)

Kaito watched the movements that Ryouta made, but it seemed as if just like before they weren't fast enough to keep up with his movement; strangely enough he seemed to have caught his breath and felt a well of strength within his body. "What is this power that is surging through me?" Kaito wondered as he managed to shift his body just a little bit out of the way of Ryouta's series of attacks. Concentrating on each movement, it was as if Kaito had hit the slow play button on reality and was watching Ryouta's movements including everything from his muscle movement to even the concentration on his face, "I can see it..." he thought in bewilderment. Being that he had been faster than Ryouta it wasn't that he couldn't keep up with the lieutenant before, but when the vice captain had released his bankai it was hard for him to see the movements so he didn't have much time to react. Ending the barrage of melee attacks that Ryouta was raining down upon Kaito was a kick to the knee and during this time, Kaito also noticed that the clouds around him had turned into two twirling swords around him that came racing towards him.

Just before any of the attacks made contact with him, Kaito couldn't help feeling a wave of astonishment at how far he had come since his days as a young academy student as he flash stepped away leaving Ryouta and his attack to collide in an explosion of dust. As the cloud cleared, Kaito narrowed his eyes and caught sight of Ryouta in the midst of the dust; reacting quickly Kaito flash stepped next to him and took a firm hold of Ryouta's wrist. During this new revelation of whatever feeling was coursing through his veins, Kaito realized that he hadn't unsheathed his zanpakutou at all which made him wonder even more about what had come over him. Looking the vice captain in the eyes, the young 3rd seat officer calmly said, "There's not much more to learn from here, Ryouta-fukutaichou...at this point it would simply be a waste of both our time..." he finished solemnly. Dropping the other's wrist, Kaito blew into his bamboo blowpipe as he walked towards the exit of the 2nd squad barracks making sure to stay well aware of Ryouta's movements in case the vice captain decided to continue. As he walked away he called out over his shoulder, "Ryouta-san...sorry for the troublesome confrontation...to make up for it next time I'll beat within the first 5 minutes okay?". The last statement wasn't a declaration of war nor was it a sign that Kaito harbored any ill will towards the vice captain; it was a guarantee of the outcome of the two shinigamis next clash.

"Really? Great, then I'll have time to go to the hot springs," Ryouta said cheerfully as he sealed his Zanpakuto. "See ya later, Kaito-san!" He turned and walked back into the 2nd Squad barracks, more specifically, to his room to take a nap. Before he drifted off to sleep, he made a note to chastise the people he had placed to spy on the seated officers of Seireitei about how he had not learned of Kaito's ability before their spar.

...
...
...

zzzz

lol

ooc: so, to make this easier for admins/mods, i believe i have posts in this thread for intel, fighting skill, a little speed, maybe even some kido. also a little spirit power, so this thread was an all-rounder. thanks

Erm without bein to nasty as your both higher up the ranking systems it should be a bit harder for you to earn points now, its not me beaing horrid i swear xP

Kaito:
+2 Kidou
+1 spirit
Ryouta:
+1.5 intel
+2 fighting skill