A Spar Between Ranks (open to ppl who can fight well against a Captain...or who think they can haha)

Ryouta stepped onto one of the many sparring grounds in Seireitei to wait for a sparring partner to show up. His annual review was coming up, and to be honest, Ryouta hadn't fought anybody on par with his own abilities for quite some time, and was worried that he might be rusty when it came to actually difficult combat situations. So, he had signed up for an open sparring ground, and openly broadcast the fact. Perhaps that had been a bad idea, as the grassy area around the large sparring ground (the size of a World Cup football field) was filling with Shinigami who wanted to see an epic fight.

Ryouta only hoped he would not embarrass himself. He drew his Zanpakuto and swung it up and down experimentally. His grip and swing seemed as strong as ever- but as far as Ryouta knew, sparring with an imaginary enemy was pointless. The weather was ideal for a spar today, clear, warm, and with a slight breeze. Of course, with Ryouta's abilities, that might change at any time, but still...

Ri came walking from the east and approached the sparring grounds. He was walking casually with his Sekkiseki hanging from it's stone beaded chain every few steps it bounced off Ri's leg but it was something Ri was used to and took no notice off.

Stepping onto the field Ri could feel the power difference between the shinigami all around him but all of these pressures were being dwarfed by someone else. After take a quick scan around Ri's eyes fell onto Captain Ryouta.

"Good afternoon Captain" Ri greeted as he move towards Ayame. Ri stood a few feet apart from Ayame and slowly Ri started to analyse the man.

"Good afternoon," said Ryouta cordially. He slipped his goggles on over his eyes. They in turn took images of his face and compared them to existing pictures in Soul Society's archive of Shinigami. "...Ri. I am 12th Division Captain Ayame Ryouta. Are you here to fight me?"

He stepped back and raised his sword. "Because if you are- I must warn you. My Zanpakuto has complete control over water, and is a formidable opponent, especially when combined with, and excuse me for my seeming lack of modesty, but my keen intellect."

"Well now I dunno what to do" Ri said sarcastic well maintaining a friendly smile. Ri twisted his neck slightly to the sound of multiply cracks. Take a few steps back Ri waved his arm around stretching him in his own manner.

"Just keep it friendly Captain" Ri said his usually grin across his face. He slid his Zanpakuto out of it's sheath and held it loosely in his left hand. in the corner of his eye he could see others gathering to watch the fight and knew they'd soon be move back.

Ryouta grinned. It was rare to see lower-ranked Shinigami so ready to go toe-to-toe with a Captain. It was refreshing and heartening to see that bravery was still a commodity amongst the Gotei 13. And today was such a nice day to showcase it.

All right. Here I go, Ryouta pointed his sword at Ri's face and flash stepped toward him, his blade coming down in a powerful vertical strike. The blow was followed up by several smaller quick slashes aimed at Ri's shoulders and arms. Ryouta was essentially gauging Ri's fighting skill as well as his speed- there was no real need to gauge Ri's spiritual pressure because he seemed comfortable in Ryouta's presence at the moment. Ryouta was holding back of course- after all, he a) did not wish to seriously harm Ri, and b) did not wish to get a cramp from starting off at full strength right off the bat.

Ri step back every strike lean to the opposite side in order to evade, Ri knew exactly what Ayame was going, holding back immensely but then again being a captain how could he not.

As Ayames blade came back up for another slash, Ri grabbed his bottle that hung from his waist and brought it up deflecting the attack with ease , not wasting an opportunity Ri flash stepped a good distance behind Ayame and started channelling his reiatsu.

"Bakudo sixty three Winding Binding Chains" Ri chanted as the winds howled around the sparring field, music to his ears. The kido was a binding one , its goal was to bind the targets arm.

"Bakudo#81: Danku!" A slight gesture by Ryouta caused a wall of invisible force to appear in front of him, which dispelled the opposing Bakudo easily. With a second flick of his sword, Ryouta dispelled his own Bakudo. Even if his arms were bound, Ri would find Ryouta a formidable opponent, especially since his Zanpakuto did not require Ryouta's arms to be free to be used effectively. "Hado#67: Flame Strike!" Ryouta's reiatsu level seemed to spike for an instant, and then, impossibly, a circular 10 ft diameter pillar of roiling flame shot down from the sky directly towards Ri.

Considering Ri's ability to cast a level 60 Bakudo, Ryouta decided he would try combining kidos to see how Ri would react. "Hado#55: Freezing Fire, Hado#71: Sunburst!" Ryouta leaped into the air over where the pillar of fire had struck, and his first spell caused a prism of ice to appear around the smoking area caused by the pillar of fire. He landed on the other side and pointed his left hand at the clear dome. Ordinarily, Sunburst would have little to no effect on a Shinigami. However- since there was a prism-like dome around the area...the light would shine through with all the searing strength of a laser.

Ri Stood his ground, he returned his Zanpakuto to its sheath for a moment, it would be need for a minute. He raised his two hand with the palms facing out toward the coming kido, with the incantation kido wouldn't have as much bite, that could be his saving grace.

"Constantly falling into disorder, does the universe bleed as we do? What is the effect of restoring it? Bakudo sixty wall of empathy" Ri canted in a rush, for moment he thought he'd been to late and closed his eye but when he outed them next he could see the flame being rejected by his shield

Approaching quickly Ri could see the atacking wave of blue flames heading for him.He had no choice, he gripped his zanpakuto's hilt and spoke with a smile
"Ruler of the winds arise! Gáircas. Buile an Cas!" Ri drew out his Zanpakuto but it had changed into it's released form and as it slid from the sheath it fired on condensed blast of Reiatsu and wind. As Ri sent his attack he was blindly slightly by a seemingly ineffective kidou but the strength of the approach kido made it ease to sense.

The two blast hit each other in a exploding of fire and wind, Ri panted heavily as he smiled, he'd expended a serious about of energy but he was at least still standing for the time being.

Ryouta smiled slightly; he had been wondering if his kido combination had been too much. However, since he could sense Ri's reiatsu going strong, he felt all right upping the ante, so to speak. "Weep, Reifujin Arashi," Ryouta said; instantly, his blade dissolved into droplets off water. In that same instant, his control over water manifested itself in the form of the icy dome over Ri collapsing in as it became liquid water. In this way, Ryouta hoped to disorient Ri.

"Kyuugeki Kasumi," uttered Ryouta. All of a sudden, the air seemed thick with a cold mist that coated the skin in frigid droplets of water, numbing the fingers and blinding the eyes, causing sound to echo eerily. Not only that, but the water was infused with Ryouta's reiatsu, making his precise location nearly impossible to detect via reiatsu sensing.

It was time to test Ri's reflexes. With a slight gesture, Ryouta caused ice daggers to appear all around Ri in the mist, floating and moving eerily. Each dagger was approximately six inches long, and with a flick of his wrist, Ryouta sent several of them flying towards Ri's back. With another gesture, he sent daggers flying at Ri from the front, right, left, above, everywhere.

Given the obscuring mist, Ri would have to act very quickly to avoid harm from the extremely sharp projectiles.

"This is gonna suck. Gáircas lets go" Ri said speaking mainly to himself as the air around him became heavy with water, it was too cold and too filled with reiatsu for Ri to be comfortable with. He took a deep breath and closed his eye as the ice daggers formed around him.

The daggers were coming in fast but Ri remained unmoving, he only moved when the first dagger stabbed into his back. With a roar Ri opened his eyes and instantly winds burst out from him. The dagger in his back shot out with as much force as it went in , the rest of the daggers halted in the air then flew back the way they came.

The area around Ri became charged with his reiatsu and wind, it flew around him with great intensity. The air between Ayame and Ri became an open battle between their pressure, the wind verses water neither would win or lose till their masters fell.

The mist continued to swirl fiercely around in the violent winds; however, not without purpose. Though Ryouta was finding it difficult to control the water as precisely as he would like to, he could still use it to his advantage. First, he chilled the upper level of mist (the mist above the knee line) to just before the point that it would freeze. Any bit of numbness in his opponent's muscles would slow reaction time, and that was always a plus. The second thing he did was increase the density of the remaining bottom layer of mist, causing it to drop to the ground and soak the ground of the battlefield, including both the areas where he and Ri were standing.

"Aisu Kan'oke," he uttered softly. The water around Ri's ankles suddenly became aggressive, and shot up Ri's body. Let's see if the wind emanates from his body, or if he's just manipulating wind currents. If it's the latter, he won't be able to block this technique with his Zanpakuto's powers...thought Ryouta. Wind isn't that precise. As the water rose, it also froze in an attempt to keep Ri more or less stationary.

"And now the finale- Senpuku no Tategami," Ryouta said. Normally, this technique was used as a killing strike, however, this time, when the huge fangs of ice opened all around Ri, they did not close in to pierce him all over; instead, Ryouta held them still with his free hand. Even if Ri managed to break out of the ice around him by using a hado spell or something, it would still damage him if the kido exploded at that range. In addition, Ryouta thought it unlikely he would be able to launch the kido, take the hit, and flash step away that quickly, and so would close the fangs of ice if necessary.

Ri didn't have time to react in any manner, his feet were too numb to move fast enough and went the water started spreading it's self over his body he knew he was in trouble. Only one thing to do.

"Rásúr" Those were Ri's last word before he was encased in Ice, his pressure was hidden beneath Ayame and even at that with the wind containing most of his reiatsu detecting him would of have to been down through sight or sound.

A frozen ball now stood where Ri was, no pressure but Ayames could be dectected but the winds had no claimed far from it. They had increased, making the grass dance unwilling and every corner now whistled with the wind, Ri was far from done.

The winds focused themselves around the Iced ball creating a hurricane that reached the heavens themselves. The Iced Ri stood in the center of the storm collecting all the reiatsu that was flowing freely in the air along with Ayames reiatsu and his own.

"Round two" Ri voice called out from the storm. In a flash of blue the ice shattered and was blasted way. Ri had managed to form his reiatsu wings and used them to shield himself from the ice, he used the time inside the ice to regain a vast amount of his lost reiatsu.

"Cleite rásúr" Ri roared as the feather of his wings shot off, a number of them collided with Ayames Ice fangs, destroying both. The rest made Ayame their target each feather took it's own path so that the attack was unpredictable and difficult to dodge.

Ryouta reacted to this in two ways; one, with a gesture, he caused the ice fangs to slam closed around Ri. If he didn't move, he would be pierced from nearly all directions. The second thing Ryouta did was to cause a sphere of clear water to appear around him; it spun, giving him a curiously stretched appearance, but this spinning caused any feathers that flew into it to be whipped away harmlessly, thus eliminating the need for Ryouta to predict where the feathers were aimed.

Fortunately, Ryouta was still capable of fighting from his protective bubble. This battle wasn't over; not by a long shot. Ri's ability was wind, which he had been using to deflect Ryouta's ice daggers. Occam's razor, thought Ryouta. The simplest solution is often the best one. I will simply attack him with something his wind cannot blow away. The sky above darkened; not because clouds had covered the sun, but because there was now a huge mass of water suspended above the windstorm. To be more specific; nearly 2 million gallons of water.

The water dropped down upon Ri, a crushing force that would have been sufficient to crush any human. As the water fell over Ri, most of it froze again, forming a far thicker layer of ice than Ryouta had previously used. "Senpuku no Tategami," Ryouta uttered again. The ice fangs appeared all around the massive hunk of ice Ri was imprisoned in. "Give up, Ri. Even if you can shatter the ice, there is no way you can do it and escape my fangs."

"You think so. Stretch from my arm a whip of searing pain Hado fifty solar flare." Ri chanted as his reiatsu flowed from him in a burst of fire, creating a whip if flames that coiled it's self around Ri's blade.

"Gaircas, fuel the flames" Ri cried as Gaircas saw what was he was thinking in and fuelled the flames, increasing the flames ten fold. Ri spun his sword around making the tail of the whip act as an umbrella turning the rain and ice into saturation air.

Water flooded around Ri, soaking his legs but he stood his ground, his end was soon but he'd stand as long as he could.It wasn't in him to quite especially during a fight.

"Very well then, you force me to do something drastic," said Ryouta. He gestured with his hand imperiously, and the water around Ri's ankles began to rise and cover his whole body. However, instead of freezing, Ryouta simply made the water extremely dense, packing the molecules as closely to each other as they could possibly be. The end result was a liquid steel in the sense that it wrapped around Ri and weighed him down, also making it very difficult for him to move even his limbs.

With another gesture, Ryouta cause the ice fangs to slam shut. He had deliberately created them at such angles that instead of harming Ri, the points would merely surround his throat and torso, preventing his movement even further. The match had been a good one- but at the moment, Ryouta felt confident in his victory and was already planning something else to require his attention.

Ri tried but movement wasn't an option, he couldn't think of an options, he didn't have enough left to escape. His mind was racing thinking of a way out, a kido or trick of some kind but not every situation had a escape plan.

"Any idea Gaircas" Ri asked already knowing the answer. Gaircas didn't even answer they both new this fight was over but then again Ri never had any misguided thoughts of victory, he knew the result of the match from the start. Something clicked.

"Engulf my body, Stop the strikes. Shield Me! Bakudo 31" Ri chanted quickly, as an oddly colour aura of blue and green surround him. The kido didn't free him, he still couldn't move but at least know he wasn't about to get crushed well so long as Ayame halted his attack.

The kido was only a safeguard, Ri'd lost but winning was never his goal.

"Well that was well fought," said Ryouta as he sheathed his sword, dispelling all effects of his Zanpakuto as he did so. "Very impressive, your Zanpakuto, and you seem to have trained with it extensively. Well done definitely. I'm sure you'll go on to great things."