The Kido Proposal (Darkness)

For some reason he could not fathom, Ryouta had been selected to sit on a panel of judges in a kido competition being held for non-Captain/Lieutenant Shinigami in the Gotei 13. Personally, Ryouta had little interest in such things; after all, he was confident that anything that happened during the competition would not serve to broaden his base of knowledge in any way, shape, or form. Ah well. At least he might get some form of entertainment in how people reacted to his changed appearance after the admittedly major modifications he'd made to his body.

Ryouta flash stepped out onto the competition grounds to start the competition. He heard, and with some satisfaction, an almost inaudible gasp among the participants and spectators alike. Gone were the ridiculous hat he wore in days of old, the ostentatiously loud cloak. His hair was gray from stress, and the area around his left eye scarred. And what an eye! It was shiny and metallic, and had two pupils of red light that eerily conveyed no emotion. Even more shocking was his left arm, half of which appeared to have been amputated and replaced with a mechanical one.

The silence that followed the gasps was complete, there was not a single sound to be heard, not even of breath, or wind. Ryouta grinned- this was exactly the reaction he had hoped to garner. "Allow me to start this competition with a display of pyrotechnics. Hado#57: Meteor Swarm." Ryouta raised his non-mechanical hand to the sky; seven flaming meteors appeared by his hand. With a flick of his wrist, Ryouta sent the seven meteors high into the sky, where they came together and exploded in a large sparkly manner.

That being done, Ryouta flash stepped to the judge's table, which for some reason included only him. "Let the boredo- I mean, the competition, begin!" Ryouta said with what he hoped people would construe as enthusiasm.

((If you don't mind would you mention the other competitors. i would rig it for myself...))

Kuroi had been making preparations all day, fiddling with this, practicing that, and most importantly, eating. Eating to prepare his reiatsu for the upcoming event. Following his transfer to 4th squad, on the same day the anouncment about this competition had come out, and only recently had come out that Captain Ayame Ryouta would be judging it. Noone had seen him in quite some time other than his squad mates. And they were hard to come by. Either way he had to impress him somehow.

Kuroi had been training for a month, but he had yet to get an above average kido down, so for the competition he resolved to do something abit more basic, but bigger and more powerful than anyone else's. Kuroi had decided, on Hado 30, Midori Hi Jikkou, an executioner's Kido, but it was difficult to get its blast larger than a forearm, Kuroi had gotten it to be slightly larger than his armspan, but he could only do it 3 times a day before becoming drained, and it needed the incantation.

Kuroi's eyes flashed as he walked torward the boards where competitors crowded around boards, alphabetized by last name. Showing what order it was in, Kuroi was to go fourth, and he frowned, his brain quickly analyzing that he would create an impression earily, but would fade to the back of the crowd's mind and possibly the judges by going so earily.

But yet Kuroi waited, and reviewed his role, he had gotten out of duties today because he had asked his captain if he could act as medical supervision, as well as a competitor, not withholding any details, somethign that she appreicated.

And now He waited, going into the tunnel that led to the competition grounds, which held an open section with targets no spectators were allowed here, and a small detachment of noncompetitors were sheilding down range, making sure that a kido didn't destroy large amounts of serietei.

As the competitors filed onto the field, Ryouta took the opportunity to read through the binder in front of him that detailed the competition rules. Contestants were seated officers from the various squads, one from each squad. The rules were simple: when it's your turn to go, perform a kido spell. Points were given based on three merits: timeliness (in essence, a person who performed a kido just as well as someone else, but say, minus the incantation, would receive more points), practical application (does the spell do what it's supposed to, and does the caster demonstrate the control to make it effective), and finally showiness/entertainment value (does the caster do anything interesting with the spell that is atypical?).

The first competitor stepped up. A brief glance at his binder told Ryouta that this was the 4th Seat of the 6th Division. She seemed confident, but in that arrogant sort of way that Ryouta saw all of the 6th Division members exhibit- at least in his opinion. She nodded at him in courtesy; Ryouta offered no form of acknowledgment. She jumped high into the air and shouted, "Hado#24: Water Slicing Blade!" and thrust her hands toward the ground. Blasts of pressurized water hit the ground in a pattern that was admittedly aesthetically pleasing, what with the light glinting off the water. When she hit the ground, Ryouta saw she had used the spell to carve out the 6th Division crest on the ground while also eliminating each of the targets. That was fairly impressive for a seated officer.

Next was the 7th Seat of the 3rd Division. The man was thin, almost painfully so, and looked so fragile Ryouta expected the kido he cast to exhaust him completely. "Bakudo#62: Hyapporankan!" The man formed a spear of light in his hand, and threw it at the center target. The rod split into several, and hit most of the targets. It also made three horizontal lines across the back wall, obviously to denote the man's squad or something for aesthetic effect. Ryouta was not that impressed, but still, he supposed it required some measure of skill to do that.

The next competitor was the 5th Seat of the 9th Division. This woman was tall and dark; she seemed very eager, the type of person who liked competition. She stood in the center of the field and made her move. "Hado#20: Hakufuku." There was a large explosion with her at the epicenter. When the smoke cleared, the patterns on the ground the 6th Division officer had left were completely wiped out, replaced with a simple bowl-shaped crater. The explosion had been large enough to also take out each of the targets, which Ryouta found mildly impressive.

Next was the 6th Seat of the 4th Division. To be honest, Ryouta did not want to sit through the rest of the competition. Maybe he'd shake up the competition a little later in the next round. Make it an experiment. Something more...dangerous. If the Shinigami didn't do so well, Ryouta could make a report to Kaito about how incompetent the squads were getting and how his own squad was superior and deserved a budget increase. He grinned as he watched the Shinigami walk in.

Kuroi stepped to the center of the field, the crowds cheering distracted him, and he suddenly felt decidedly nervous, but it was his time to shine...

Kuroi took a deep breath in, and a deep breath out, closing his eyes as he did so, he spread his stance, and started to chant, a slight breeze blowing his hair behind his shoulders, and fluttering his robes. He chanted lowly, cupping his hands together, a small green ball formed in his hand, marble sized. The green glow was barely visible from his cupped hands...

Kuroi's words were low against the chattering of the crowd, the silence coming after realization that somethign was happening again. He spoke, the words, "Water, what gives life to those who I seek to end, Lightning, what Creates the fire in my hand, Combine, and deliver your judgment upon this soul." Kuroi opened his eyes, targeting the wall, and Explosivly he jumped and spread all of his limbs, the small green ball hanging there at first, and he shouted, his voice cracking. "Hado 30 Midori Hi Jikkou!" And suddenly, the small green marble expanded to the arm's width of Kuroi, and he fired, turning himself in the air with shunpo, the blast carrying for a few seconds, the large green blast was brilliantly colored green, and Kuroi turned, moving the blast like a large sword, and swept a good portion of the targets...

Kuroi's Kido resolved, and he dropped to the ground, out of breath but quickly regaining his composure with heavy breathing, and he nodded to the captain before walking off to the competitors stand, and he listened to the crowd, realizing that they had expected something, less destructive, from a fourth squad member.

"Eh..." Ryouta was unimpressed. Admittedly, he hadn't expected a 4th Division member to use something quite so destructive, but it hadn't exactly been awe-inspiring, or fun to watch in the least. The rest of the contestants went up and performed predictably, which for Ryouta meant tediously. The only exception was the 11th Division member, whose spell blew up in his face, which Ryouta found fairly amusing. He'd have to remember to tease the 11th Division Captain about it.

As the first round ended, Ryouta stood. "The next part of the contest will take place in the 12th Division HQ!" he declared. No reason I can't gather a little data, Ryouta thought. Besides, I'm bored, and this is a waste of my time.

Ryouta led the remaining contestants (he had eliminated three contestants from the first round, the 11th Division member, the 12th Division member, and the 2nd Division member) to the 12th Division HQ, deep into the labyrinth that was the SRDI until they reached a door marked simply with the word 'maze.' "The next part of the contest will take place in here," Ryouta said. "You are to split up as soon as you can, and make your way to the exit of the maze, which is on the far side. To exit, you will need a key, which is found in the center of the maze. Use kido as much as possible when practical, you will be judged on that, though you may use your Zanpakutos if you so wish. But know that will result in point loss. Oh...and I guess I'll give you all a hint. 'Sinister.'" That being said, Ryouta retired to the observation/control room.

Little did the contestants know, the maze was actually a testing ground for Modified Souls that the SRDI created to combat Hollows. That is, the maze was crawling with Hollows that had been captured from the Real World and brought here. Of course, Ryouta would be monitoring all contestants to ensure no death; there were of course defenses in the maze. But...Ryouta wasn't above letting a little maiming occur. And, if the Hollows proved easy pickings, Ryouta could always shake things up by adding a little danger to the mix from the observation/control room.

The hint of course was Latin. Continuously turning left would allow a Shinigami the quickest route through the maze, though that path wasn't necessarily the safest.

((Depending on how this that poll works out, we may have made this thread for nought))

Kuroi thought of what the man said, Kuroi put his hand on his zanpaktou, feeling its mood about this, Ryouta-taicho was a dangerous figure, and more than likely cared nothing for the well being of the constants at this stage. He had observed him, and a hardly supressed look of boredom was on his face.

As he led them into 12 squad, and into a maze, Kuroi observed as much detail as he could. But it was utterly hopeless. A large and confusing mess of a layout was how Kuroi would describe it. Kuroi listened to Ryouta-taicho, the rules were simple, and the clue probably described the traps. Kuroi had never known a word in latin.

Kuroi decided to just walk calmly, perhaps a bluff of traps and a 'sinister' maze was just all there was too it, like a haunted house. While the rest of the contestants focused on the right the far left one was left open. Kuroi started to walk down the corridor, making another left turn. Walking down a corridor about 50 feet long, Kuroi wondered if he just walked left the whole time if he would just go in circles. Kuroi had no hopes of winning this contest right now, but he decided that walking in an eternal circle until the time was up would amuze the Captain.

Kuroi made another left, and saw a hollow jump out at him, a wolf hollow, fairly weak and about the size of a wolf, it lunged at him, apparently having no powers other than being quite fast. Kuroi said quietly, "Hado 3 Crimson Strike" and thrust his palm into the beast's gaping maw, a red beam burst through it, and it turned to dust as it tried to bite him. Kuroi though, 'perhaps i underestimated Ryouta-Taicho' and kept walking, turning left as a joke even still.

(())

From his viewing booth, Ryouta was enjoying himself immensely. Already, he had gathered enough data on some of the contestants to have the budgets of their squads cut in punishment. This had come about for a variety of reasons; some had been nearly overwhelmed by the Hollow inhabitants, others had been stuck when confronted with large chasms in the maze to bypass. Still others had simply gotten lost, given up, and just sat there, hoping for rescue. Now there were only three four left, interestingly enough, the first four contestants Ryouta had seen.

He watched with particular interest the 4th Division member, who, though displaying no special talent with kido, had picked either through sheer luck or Ryouta's hint the fastest way through the maze. The first Hollow he destroyed with ease. Through the use of the maze cameras, Ryouta knew that there were other Hollows of similar power en route. He had little doubt the Shinigami would be able to take them. But perhaps he'd make it a little harder. After all, challenges were nice, and the fastest way through the maze should be of some difficulty.

So, between the center of the maze and where the Shinigami currently was, Ryouta activated one of the maze's training mechanisms. The flat stretch of floor that the Shinigami would have to bypass began moving up and down in separate panels. This part of the maze was typically used to train Mod Souls with advanced leg muscles, but Ryouta felt a Shinigami should be tested in this area as well. In addition, Ryouta knew that the Hollow that resided in this section of the maze could fly, which would give it the advantage in the battlefield. As Ryouta recalled, it was a bat-like Hollow whose screech was deafening, and if concentrated on a single area long enough, capable of cracking stone, or tearing organic tissue. Of course, its fangs and claws were nothing to be sneezed at either.

Ryouta sat back and decided to enjoy the show a little while longer.

Kuroi looses the competition, Amaye gets more funding. End of Line.