Shikyo stood in the center of a large and open field. As far as the eye could see was nothing but grass and with no objects to hinder his movements it would be the perfect place to work on his speed. Knowing that his goal of being captain required strength and power he could not attain on his own, he'd decided to ask one of the shinigami he'd met during his time in his former squad for assistance. He waited patiently as he removed the pack from his back, wondering when help would arrive.

ooc: sorry this is late- i was occupied with something else

Ryouta flash stepped onto the field; he wasn't alone either, a rotund man dressed in Academy teacher robes was also with him. Both of them approached Shikyo, and then Ryouta said, "Hey, Shikyo-san, I haven't seen you since our mission together. I hope things are going well for you- anyway, this here is Teji-senpai. He's really good at kido and is all around a pretty great guy."

Teji coughed in embarrassment. "I'm just happy to help out former students. What do you say we get started? We'll start off easy. Hado no Rokuju: Blast Feathers!" Teji raised his hands and reiatsu charged feathers began raining down on them from above.

Ryouta instantly flash stepped out of the way and began a complex series of flash steps- clearly he had done something similar before. His steps were measured and precise; he would appear for an instant, dodge a couple feathers without having to use Shunpo, and then he would be forced to flash step to avoid the next couple.

"That's a good warm-up, Teji-senpai, but I think we can do better, huh? Whaddya think, Shikyo-san?" Ryouta commented as he dodged the feathers with a casual proficiency.

(OOC: This entire thread will be for speed please)

Shikyo bowed at the teacher before nodding to Ryouta and signaling that he was ready. The white feathers that fell from the sky drifted slowly at first, as Shikyo looked up, analyzing them. He was unsure what would happen if they touched him, but he assumed that it would not be good, considering this was a lesson intended to increase his speed and reflexes. Moving out of the way of the first few that fell, simply leaping from spot to spot did not work as soon the amount of feathers falling were to immense to merely dodge.

Letting his reiatsu seep out, his movements increased as he disappeared for a moment, reappearing in time to move out of the way of more of the deceptively soft items. He miscalculated however and resulted in one of the feathers touching his arm as it fell, immediately resulting in a small explosion that knocked him off balance and dangerously close to being hit by more of the aviary bombs. Increasing his reiatsu further, he increased his movements, shunpo'ing out of the way of the rest of the feathers as he landed in front of Ryouta and the teacher.

Crossing his arm across his body as he stretched his shoulders he nodded to Ryouta. "I'm ready to kick this up a notch." He was a little out of breath, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

"All right, you heard the man, Teji-senpai. Next step?" Ryouta was literally bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to continue with the exercise. This was so much better and more entertaining than training had been at the Academy.

"Hokey-doke, stand back and get ready." Ryouta and Shikyo both moved back about 10 m from Teji. Teji clapped his hands together and held them there. "Bakudo no Rokujuni: Hyapporankan!" A large beam of blue reiatsu appeared in his hands. Teji pulled both hands apart, holding a single blue beam in each hand. Then, he threw one at each of them. Each beam of reiatsu split into what seemed like hundreds of similar blue beams.

Ryouta's eyes narrowed. He willed the beams to slow down in his mind's eye, just as he had been taught to do. As they came close, he flash stepped to avoid the first beam, and appeared amidst the swarm. It was all up to instinct and reaction time and Shunpo ability now- Ryouta flash stepped again and again; he reveled in the burn he felt in his muscles as each blue beam was dodged.

He was breathing heavily now as the beams continued, and some of them were getting awfully close, threatening to tear at his pant legs or bruise his bare arms. "Is- is that all you got- Teji-senpai?!?! C'mon!"

Ryouta continued flash stepping to avoid the blue beams. It was getting a little harder, but he could feel the adrenaline and endorphins pumping through him, driving him to do better. The natural high buoyed his spirits and allowed for him to push himself to go faster and faster. He wanted to glance over and see how Shikyo was doing, but he knew he couldn't, for such a distraction, however brief, would prove disastrous.

The cobalt staff formed from kidou energy spiraled toward Shiko, seconds before it shimmered and a second parallel beam appeared. Both beams shimmered again and two more appeared. The process continued until a veritable wave of the items launched themselves at Shikyo, each one able to pierce through his body and impale him should he allow it. The first lesson had been a cake walk compared to what he had to do now. He could not simply attempt to jump and dodge the weapons without using his shunpo due to the sheer number that hurtled toward him.

Building his reiatsu until it flowed through his body and filled his limbs, concentrating the power at his feet, Shikyo disappeared and reappeared through the torrent of beams. His mind worked quickly as he moved to position himself behind the beams, timing his actions so he moved at all times, knowing that he couldn't pause even if for a moment. Shikyo forced his reiatsu through his legs, flash-stepping in and out of the waves of beams that seemed endless. The rate of his breathing increased as he found it difficult to regulate his inhalation and exhalation, strong signals that he was tiring from the constant motion.

He flash-stepped out of the way of one beam, misjudging its distance as it came dangerously close to piercing his body, cutting through his cloak as easily as a cookie cutter in dough. Exercising more of his reiatsu in an attempt to speed his reflexes, he flash-stepped twice more, passing through the onslaught and finally coming to a stop as the torrent subsided. Placing his hands on his head to open his lungs and receive a greater amount of oxygen, sweat dripped from his brow and into his face. Despite the energy he just exerted it felt good to exercise his skills and abilities, knowing that he would be stronger when his training was completed.

Ryouta smiled at Teji. "Wow, Teji-senpai, that's pretty impressive, doing that spell with both hands with just the one incantation. I have got to work on my kido skill with you later. Anyway...got anything tougher?"

Teji smirked. "You're always so eager...you have no idea what you're getting into, but eh. You'll find out. Both of you, stand twenty meters away from me, and from each other. I advise you also lift yourselves about fifteen meters up with Hoho as well." Both Ryouta and Shikyo moved to do as Teji asked. "Okay, prepare to be extremely hard pressed. I'll be surprised if I don't have to use healing kido on both of you later. "Fall from the sky, cause it to light, Hado no Rokuju: Blast Feathers!" A multitude of feathers began to fall on both Ryouta and Shikyo. There were a lot more feathers than before, but it was still no more difficult to dodge them than it had been to dodge the Hyapporankan spell.

"Is this it, Teji-senpai?" Ryouta asked as he dodged the deadly feathers, which exploded on the ground below him. "This is no more difficult than the Hyapporankan spell."

Teji smirked again. "Oh you'll see. Hado no Gojuhachi: Tenran." A tornado of wind appeared around both Ryouta and Shikyo. The tornado whipped the feathers around at high speed, making the dodging of them exponentially harder.

"Sh-!" Ryouta's swear was cut off as he was forced avoid the suddenly speedy feathers. He flash stepped to the eye of the tornado, but found it did no good- somehow Teji had made it so the feathers were launched in there too. Ryouta's leg muscles burned even more as he flash stepped left and right to avoid the twirling explosive feathers. His lungs ached from gulping in so much air to feed his muscles' insatiable need for oxygen. This was decidedly more difficult than the previous two exercises had been.

Ryouta continued to flash step, but then a feather brushed his arm and exploded, leaving a shiny burn where it had ignited. "Damn it!" Ryouta swore as he re-doubled his effort. It was to no avail. He let his reiatsu flow through him to protect him from the last remnants of the feather barrage.

Dust was thrown up into the air as Ryouta hit the ground accompanied by the last bits of explosive feathers. As the dust cleared, Ryouta stepped out, covered in burns, soot, and ash. He coughed a little and brushed some of the soot off. "How about some healing, Teji-senpai?"

Teji sighed. "I told you this would be tough. Bakudo no Gojuku: Natural Cure." He held his hand out toward Ryouta, and it glowed with green healing power. Ryouta's burns vanished, though his clothing remained very shabby looking. "Sorry, I don't know of any kido spell that restores clothing to its original appearance."

Ryouta smiled and chuckled. "Haha, that's OK, I can afford new robes. I'm ready for a new exercise if you've got one."

ooc: all of my posts here are for speed too

Shikyo levitated in the air, looking to the sky as the feathers slowly descended to the earth. He was almost about to agree with Ryouta when the trainer suddenly unleashed the massive whirlwind that surrounded the pair. The maelstrom whipped around Shikyo, sending the feathers fast enough to pierce his cloak even if they weren't charged with Teji's deadly reiatsu. Shikyo flash-stepped to the lower part of the tornado, knowing that the amount of feathers would be lower here as the majority of them were concentrated in the upper parts of the vortex.

He'd always prided himself on his ability to pick up on patterns quickly and he used his knowledge of his previous two lessons now as he forced the spiritual energy through his body to increase his movements. Knowing that he couldn't rely on his sight to move out of the way of the almost invisible feathers due to their speed, he concentrated on trying to sense the reiatsu within them to dodge the attack. He flash-stepped left and right, preventing the items from touching him before deciding to move further up into the sky where more feathers would be located.

In a normal battle he would have simply unleashed his Zanpakuto and used its ability to protect himself but that's not why he was here. He knew that he needed to train harder, to hone his reflexes in order to execute faster moves in an actual battle. His body protested as he increased the spiritual energy to his feet, flash-stepping again and again until his energy level could no longer handle the fast paced movements. Throwing his arms over his face as he braced for the explosion, the feathers collided with his stomach, sending waves of pain through his body as he flew out of the tornado and descended harshly to the earth.

Coughing violently as he attempted to stand he waited until Teji completed healing Ryouta before waving the teacher over to him. The energy flowed through his body, healing his wounds as he stood to look at Ryouta. "That was more intense than I thought it would be, but I'm ready now. What's next?"

"This'll seem a little boring and uncreative, but well, it'll do." Teji motioned for them to do as they had done before- that is, levitate several feet in the air. "Fall from the sky, cause it to light, Hado no Rokuju: Blast Feathers!" The reiatsu charged feathers began falling down on them again. "Hado no Gojuhachi: Tenran!" The tornadoes began whipping the feathers around at high speed again. "And..." Teji held up both palms of his hands and brought them together. "Bakudo no Rokujuni: Hyapporankan!" He launched the numerous blue reiatsu beams directly at the two of them, and continued doing so when the number of rods dwindled.

Ryouta twisted and turned and sidestepped to avoid the initial downpour of deceptively explosive feathers. He found that he had gotten better at dodging things with maximum efficiency and minimum effort, that is, without the use of flash steps. Then he thought: But if I want to get faster, I should use them anyway. And so, he began flash stepping to avoid the feathers.

As Teji called up the tornado, Ryouta fell into a sort of rhythm of flash stepping by utilizing the wind itself to aid him. He would flash step into the wind to avoid one feather, and as another came at him, he would flash step back into the eye of the tornado. Of course, this was much more difficult than it sounded- as different sections of the tornado were dangerous at different times, so it required precise timing, very strong muscle, as well as the ability to sense the reiatsu in the feathers and react fast enough to avoid them. Still, Ryouta was a fast learner, and found he could deal with the feathers fairly well.

And then, Teji launched the Hyapporankan spell at him. Oh this is hardly fair. thought Ryouta. He was no longer able to use his strategy of stepping in and out of the tornado's wind to avoid the projectiles. He flash stepped again and again; to an outside observer, he must've looked slightly ridiculous as every time he flash stepped, he was in a different position. First he was twisting around to avoid both a feather and a rod, then he was bent over backwards (like in the Matrix) to avoid a grouping of the rods. Then he was stretched out flat as a board, then straight up with his arms at awkward positions. About 45 seconds in, Ryouta made a mistake- he misjudged the distance of one of the feathers and it exploded on his hand, sending him into the wind of the tornado. Several feathers crashed into him and then the poles from the Hyapporankan spell tore him out of the tornado and pinned him to a nearby tree.

"...Ouch." Ryouta was pretty much just as badly burned as before, and now looked even worse for wear. Teji sighed and walked over, then healed him. "Have you had enough yet?"

Ryouta smiled. "Of course not. This is just the beginning, Teji-senpai."

Shikyo leapt into the air as he watched the trainer building his reiatsu through his palms. He anticipated a much stronger kidou but was surprised when feathers materialized above him, slowly falling once again. He was prepared to begin dodging them until Teji hit them with the second kidou that initiated the whirlwind just as it had before. Difficult, yes, but it obviously Shikyo had developed a strategy for such a situation and was about to execute it once more when Teji threw the third spell at them.

"This is ridiculous!" Shikyo exclaimed as the cobalt beams split into dozens and dozens of separate beams and hurled themselves toward him. His strength returned thanks to the kidou Teji used, and with his body refreshed it was easier for his mind to concentrate on the task at hand.

He could utilize the flash-step in order to dodge the feathers, but with the crossing pattern of the beams it would be impossible not to be hit by something if he only relied on that. Deciding to take his reiatsu up another level, he allowed the spiritual pressure to speed his movements, as he would disappear and reappear throughout the maelstrom, spinning and twisting his body so as not to be hit by the flying beams or feathers. Ironically, it seemed that the beams that passed through the tornado managed to avoid the spinning feathers in the vortex, their combined timing impeccable and it gave Shikyo an idea.

Leaping atop the closest flying beam, he flash-stepped from beam to beam, maneuvering his body and flipping so sometimes he landed on his hands, as he passed higher and higher into the tornado, continuing to evade the items.

His actions seemed to be working perfectly, his actions and movements timed and executed with a skill and precision indicative of his vice-captain status. However he was not perfect and after one of his shunpo attempts he misjudged the distance, his hand slipping off the beam and throwing his body off balance and causing him to fall directly in the path of the impaling beams and the explosive feathers.

Choosing to dodge the lesser of two evils, he forced his body to lie flat in the air looking down as the beam passed beneath him, but two feathers collided with his side, the explosion sending him spiraling out of the vortex and back to the ground. Standing slowly as the smoke escaped from his wound, he waited patiently for Teji to heal him once more.

Teji approached Shikyo and held out his arm, palm facing him. "Bakudo no Gojuku: Natural Cure." He healed Shikyo's wounds, and then turned to Ryouta. "What exactly do you have in mind to do next?"

Ryouta smiled. "You can take a break now, Teji-senpai. Shikyo and I are going to do a little Hakuda to augment our speed." Ryouta pulled both of Zanpakuto, sheathes and all and threw them at Teji's feet. "I won't be needing these."

Then he turned and faced Shikyo. "You okay with going hand to hand against me?"

Shikyo grinned as he removed the long cloak from his back, knowing that it would slow him down. "I've got no problem with that." Knowing that Ryouta was the vice-captain of the 2nd squad, Shikyo knew that he would be outmatched but how would he get better unless he faced stronger opponents? "We fall so that we can better learn to pick ourselves up." He reminded himself. Nodding to Ryouta, signaling he was ready, he flash-stepped above his opponent, spinning as he aimed a kick toward Ryouta's head. Falling backward as he allowed his hands to catch himself he performed a back handspring before flash-stepping behind Ryouta and aiming two punches at the back of the man's neck.

Ryouta smiled at Shikyo's determination and willingness to fight. His eyes followed Shikyo as he appeared above him; then ducked to avoid the spinning kick. He sensed rather than felt Shikyo's presence behind him. In response, Ryouta whirled with surprising speed and used an open palm to shove the outside of the Shikyo's first fist away, throwing his second punch awry.

Ryouta flash stepped back and said, "Hakuda Rule #1: Never strike twice at the same area. It implies you're not confident in the first strike. If ya don't think ya can succeed, what makes ya think an enemy will succumb to an attack?"

Then he flash stepped up close to Shikyo and began launching a series of punches and kicks at Shikyo to gauge his reflexes. He threw a punch at Shikyo's right clavicle, then aimed a kick at Shikyo's ribs. Then he dropped to the ground and tried to sweep Shikyo's legs out from under him. As he followed through, Ryouta flash stepped behind him and aimed a powerful punch at Shikyo's temple.

But this was a feint! Instead, his hand gripped Shikyo's shoulder and he swung himself around in an attempt to wrench/dislocate Shikyo's shoulder. At the same time, he prepared to flash step above Shikyo to continue the fight up in the air.

Shikyo knew that Ryouta was faster than him, but the speed with which the shinigami blocked his attack and whirled upon him surprised even Shikyo. Having his initial punch blocked threw off his balance but as Ryouta retreated a few steps it gave him time to regain his stance.

He listened as the man instructed him at his mistake, allowing his mind to take in the information so he could use that knowledge during his next attack. He prided himself on not making the same mistake twice, and he quickly discovered that Ryouta's speed wouldn't allow such actions anyway.

As the shinigami launched himself toward Shikyo, he crossed his right hand over his body, stepping out of the way of the punch aimed at his collar bone and then quickly brought his left leg up so that his shin took the attack directed at his ribs. However because one of his legs was in the air, when Ryouta immediately dropped and performed the sweeping kick his other foot was knocked out from under him.

Falling sideways he allowed his right arm to hit the ground to avoid the punch he anticipated toward his head but Ryouta only acted as if that was his real attack before moving behind Shikyo and ripping at his left shoulder.

Shikyo spun toward Ryouta, his hand on the ground as he propelled his body off the ground and aimed a kick toward Ryouta's stomach. Flash-stepping behind Ryouta and then allowing his body to fall when he expected the shinigami to turn around he grabbed at Ryouta's legs, intending to launch his foe toward the ground.

Although Ryouta had the advantage with faster reflexes, Shikyo was determined to prove that he could still catch him off-guard, knowing that the element of surprise was the only thing that would balance the fight when his slower movement speed placed him at a disadvantage.

As Shikyo grabbed his legs and prepared to throw, Ryouta considered his options briefly, and then made his choice. The counter would never work if Shikyo was on the ground, but since he was in the air, Ryouta was confident in his ability to turn the situation to his advantage. He basically did a sit up and grabbed Shikyo's shoulders, and then flung his own body weight backwards in an attempt to bring both of them to the ground, Shikyo back-first. While he did this, he bent his knees for a dual purpose: a) to prevent possible breakage upon landing, and b) to drive them into Shikyo's stomach.

Descending quickly through the air, even faster than normal because of the person on top of him, Shikyo had little time to think. The time it would take to consider all of his options decreased exponentially as the ground seemed to be speeding toward Shikyo itself. Using his hands to knock Ryouta's from his shoulders he spun his body around and faced his head to the ground so that he appeared to be diving. The movement effectively increased his momentum, allowing separation from Ryouta as Shikyo flipped when he neared the ground as he land safely.

His muscles burned as his hands fell to his knees, attempting to catch his breath after that close encounter. His reflexes weren't what they would be if he was fully rested, and the earlier training was starting to take a toll on him. But he couldn't stop now. Waiting until his opponent hit the ground, Shikyo launched himself toward Ryouta, forcing reiatsu through his limbs and willing them to move faster despite the fact that his body protested every punch and kick he fired toward his foe.