The next test. (Open spar)

Garin stood in the center of a sparring ring with his Wakizashi drawn, practicing the Katas he'd been learning from Takezo, his new teacher. He was waiting for a challenger so he could try out what he'd learned. Hopefully someone would come along soon. He worked on combining the Wakizashi katas with the other martial Arts forms so that he could better incorporate his exceptional hand to hand ability into his fighting style.

Draze wandered into the room. Ever since he had masked the growth in his reitsu, he could wander as he pleased, as the intructors did not care for a shinigami who was stuck at student level.
He saw Garin, muscles rippling, practising a complicated set of thrusts and slices with his short zanpakuto. Drazw andered over to greet the ex-student, and see how he was doing.

Garin smiled as he recognized Draze from his student days. He stopped his practice and walked over. Looking about he chuckled as he recalled how their little bout began. "You come to chuck wood at me again?" Garin asked teasingly.

"Yes." Draze grinned, "In the form of paper. I have been asked to deliver this to you. Some sort of invitation for a captain's birthday. Here you are."
Draze drew the formal letter and threw it to bounce of Garin's chest.
"My job is complete." he grinned, and turned to leave.

((if Garin is INCREDIBLY observative, he would notice that draze is still wearing student robes. In addition, his reitsu seems to be at the same level as the last duel, but thats |very obvious. not like his clothes.))

Garin blinked. Captain's birthday? When did this happen? He looked up and blinked again. This guy was still a student. How did that happen? He seemed pretty capable in their last fight. What held him back?

He walked up and tapped him on the shoulder. "What happened to you? You seemed rather promising. I figured we'd graduate this place about the same time." He looked down at the letter, still confused and opened it.

((Don't know what it says or whatnot...))

((Irrelavant. letter was an excuse to expalin why a studnet came looking for garin. Also an excuse to throw stuff at you. ))

Draze grimaced. "My, uh....reitsu stopped growing. I'm stuck at student level. They say Ill become an instructor when I graduate. But thanks for the compliment." Draze said, drawing his sword. "I imagine you've gotten alot better."

((Oh... Well, he was in the middle of a sparring ring for a reason. XD)

Garin smiled at the comment and stuck the letter into his robes. He then drew his own blade in response to the other man drawing. "A little. I've been taking some private lessons and I think you might find them interesting..." He didn't wait for any signal to start, he simply leaped forward, stabbing at his opponent with the blade, ready to shift it's course in mid thrust for a creative cut or to help him deflect his opponent's blade.

(Just a testing attack. Should be ridiculously easy to block.)

Draze was too slow to deflect the incoming blade, and was stabbed directly through the heart. He collapsed, blood spurting from both entry and exit wounds, and coughed once before falling into the abyss. Squad four members raced to the site of the failing student, but his life signs were too weak, his shredded heart fluttering uselessly as it tried to keep him alive.
There was only one way for Draze to live. He had to achieve Bankai in the next 10 seconds.

...

Nah, just kidding.

Draze, sword held in hand, brought it around in a vertical sweep to deflect the stabing sword, leaping backwards as he did so to hopefully dodge if his sword failed him.

As his blade was deflected and his opponent leaped backwards, Garin came up with an idea. It was time he made his opponent regret putting distance between them. He smiled and raised his hand towards Draze. He spoke rapidly, "Blind the enemy with the endless sands of the desert. Burn his eyes and weaken his soul! Hado Kyuu! Dust Wind!" From his palm, a torrent of sand sprayed into the air towards Draze. It probably wouldn't hurt him any more then to maybe get sand in his eyes, but it would definitely give Garin an advantage for his next step...

Draze grinned as he jumped back. He knew he still had one advantage with the longer blade, and he planned to maximise on it. he stopped, brought his sword up to chest level and prepared to deliver a powerfull side strike.
That was when the sand hit.
"Ugh!" Draze choked, sand getting in his eyes and mouth.
he stumbled back even further, so he was out of range for even his sword.
Desperatly, he swung his sword around him with one hand, hoping to block a possible blow while he spat out the sand and got it out of his eyes.

The sand blast worked even better then he'd anticipated. He knew it would disorient his foe, but assumed he'd be more prepared. That was ok though. It just made the next step even easier. As he sprayed the sand, he made sure that there was plenty on the ground forming a nice cohesive line to his target. He grinned and leaned down just a bit, touching his sword to the sand on the ground. "Hado Jyuu-Ichi! Tsuzuri Raiden!" This shout was the only warning his foe got as a powerful stream of lightning flew along his hand, then down his blade, and finally along the stream of sand he'd left, rushing to zap his opponent who was standing on the very sand which would conduct his doom.

((OOC: Ok, in case your Japanese is out of date, That's "Hado 11, Bound Lightning." As long as there's something cohesive and at least semi-whole, like a chain or a rope, or I figure a line of sand, It travels along it. This attack was first used in the show by Hisagi against the huge beast Aion. Of course, Hisagi's weapon is the perfect conductor for this attack, but I figured that the sand would have to do. Have fun, and I hope my little ooc didn't bore you to much!))

((ooc: Not sure how conductive sand is, but ok.))
Draze now had one eye free from most of the grit and dirt, and had stopped with the wild swinging. Out of his blurred teary vision, he saw Garin kneeling down, and caught the last of his chant.
"-Tsuzuri Raiden!"
For a moment, Draze felt nothing. For an instant, all was still. One eye was closed, the back of his hand pressed against it to wipe out the grit. He was standing low, legs bent but back straight. A sandy robe hung loosely on his frame. His left hand, clenching his sword, was straight, but held the blade out, leaving the tip of his blade to poise a few centimetres above the sandy floor.
But only for an instant.
Next moment, he felt his body convulse. His sword was dropped as he flew backwards from the shock, feeling like someone had set his body on fire.
He fell back over a metre, thrown by the force of electricity. Upon landing, he rolled over his head and ended up stomach down, body twitching with leftover power...

Garin was extatic! Every plan was working perfectly, and his opponent had dropped his blade. He charged forward, hoping to catch him before he fully recovered from the electric shock. As soon as he was in range, he kicked forward as if trying to punt his chin like a football.

((I don't know just how conductive the material actually has to be, honestly. I just know that it has to be connected somehow at the very least. I figured that as long as it's an unbroken line of sand, it would work. Heh... You'll find that Garin has a few other little tricks up his sleeve as well. One in particular is really nasty, but actually requires me to hit you.))

Draze was aching all over from the electrical shock, but when Garins foot connected with his chin, the rest of the pain was forgotten. Draze back arched from the force as his head was lifted by the kick, and a nasty snap resounded around the dojo. His eyes were wide open, sandy annoyance ignored as he let out a sielnt scream of pain. blood trickled from his nose and mouth, in addition to his torn chin.
He flopped down, coughed up a glob of blood, and tried to roll over. He had to do something!

((BTW. I just have to say....fuck...I'm bieng slaughtered.))

Garin heard the crack and stopped. Stepping back, he looked Draze over from a distance. He looked pretty hurt. Suddenly, he felt kinda bad. It had been such a hard battle the first time, he hadn't figured he'd need to hold back. He cleared his throat. "Sorry... I guess I got a little carried away. If you want to stop, I'll understand." He looked Draze over worriedly, wondering if it was safe to try to help him. He had been a tough opponent last time and he was finding it hard to believe he'd be so easily taken down.

((You impressed Garin last time. He's totally serious this fight. Just be happy he never had an opportunity to punch you. He's mastered a combination heavy punch/Hado #1 attack that generally collapses the lungs temporarily and breaks ribs.))

Draze got up on his elbows and spat up more blood. That kick had done a real number on him, and he thought he was bleeding inside his throat. Draze got up, stumbled to the nearby wall, and collapsed, sinking down with eyes closed and head back. His face, a bloosy mess from electrical frying, sandy grit and a kick to the chin, gave a nasty rasping sound as he breathed. After a minute or so, he got up, and slowly walked to his fallen sword. he picked it up, shaking the sand of it, with one hand. He noticed that the hand was shaking with leftover tremors from the electrcial muscles spasms. With his other hand, he clenched his troublesome appendage, and wrapped both over the hilt.
He turned to Garin, blank look on his face, and took a step forward.

((It's good to know that I impressed Garin, but Draze doesnt deserve his respect yet. On a different note, those new kido's are nasty. Damn, now I hate kido.))

Garin sighed as he saw Draze advance. As weak as he was, Garin knew he didn't stand a chance. He realized that the only way out of this was to put the kid down gently. He peered into him and focused his mind.

He waited until Draze was inches away from being in range to cut him and whispered softly like a sigh, "Hado Nii-Jyuu... Hakufuku..." Suddenly, the area around him and Draze began to fill with purple flower petals slowly floating down and pressure could be felt.

((Ok, just in case, that is Hado #20, "White Crawl". If you don't realize what I'm doing before it takes effect, you'll pass out. I figured it'd be a good way to take him down without hurting him.))

((Well, fight over. Sorrry I was so useless. As soon as I was hit with that sand, I was doomed. if I rank up soon, we can do a rematch for a tie-breaker ))

Draze, with all due Grace, fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Garin smirked a bit and walked over to Draze. Sheathing the other shinigami's sword, he picked him up and carried him to the healers.