Nature training II (solo)

It was the fourth day of his training and he felt like nothing had changed. Well almost nothing. So far he had successfully cleared the area of old copses. Sweating, he sat down on a broken trunk. He took deep breaths as he looked upon the downed trees. At first he had thought the training would help him better control his energy, but now he had his doubts. In truth the gigai was not meant for this type of thing. The premise of the false body was to contain and retain reiryoku. They were in face recovery devices for a weakened shinigami or a means for them to interact with the humans. Arawn had thought he his energy felt weird when he began training three days ago, it wasn’t til the second day that he noticed the muffling effect his gigai had. He had cast kido in the very same form, but hadn’t noticed it then. Now he was fully aware his spiritual power wasn’t operating at full capacity. This was a good thing and a bad thing unfortunately. For one it did limit his power which prevented him from hurting himself, but at the same time it prevented him from building up the power needed to fully practice Sa Shin Mu. On the third day he had found this out the hard way.
Arawn had begun training in the four forms he had learned only to fail miserably. With Ju-Jak and Beck-Oh he managed manifest their abilities slightly, but with Hyun-Mu and Chung-Ryong there was only abysmal results.

This trip seemed to be pointless. All he was doing was giving himself a good work out and he could have done that in Soul Society. He groaned as he leaned back. His body was already getting sore. His head looked to the to the trees barely catching glimpses of blue between the green foliage. Arawn had been at it for nearly an hour and his arms felt like jello. Thankfully the sun wasn’t shining down upon him, but he felt hot enough without feeling it’s rays. The wind was blowing just enough to make it an ideal resting place. Another gust came through the small area and the rustling leaves drew Arawn’s gaze went skyward. He might as well relax before returning to his training. As he watched the branches sway several leaves pulled free. Every so slowly they began their descent to earth. It was almost a dance as they flipped end over end through the air. Some fell in tight spirals like an airplane whose engine had stalled. At the same time others fluttered in wide arcs. Others leaves caught the air in such a way that they dropped while spinning resembling propellers. Arawn thought about how it all reminded him of snow.
“Emerald snow.” he muttered while watching them flutter. A cluster of leaves came close to where he rested. On a lark Arawn’s thought to catch some. Just as they fell level with his head his hand shot out to grab at the verdant leaves. His timing must have been off or perhaps the angle was wrong; he missed them completely. The shinigami didn’t notice this, as his focus was on the leaves themselves. Rather than fall after the near miss, they had scattered into different directions like bowling pins. Arawn pulled back his empty hand. His face screwed up as he looked into his palm. Not a single leaf and yet his hand was tingling. He was sure he hadn’t touched them. The scattering wasn’t that odd as a strong enough strike could make a small enough gust to give that effect. But the distance between the two was too great. There was no power in his attack. Another leaf was falling. Arawn took his time to watch it and predict it’s path. This time he aimed to miss. The swift and powerful jab at the leaf did nothing to disrupt it’s flight. He looked at his hand.


“I know I felt something.” he said aloud. Talking out loud felt odd, but his internal thoughts were too muddled. Giving those thoughts voice gave them focus. Arawn stood up and walked up to one of the tree trunks. Standing at a distance he took a deep breath and then sent a side kick directly into the wood. The whole tree shook from the force of the blow. Bark shattered beneath his foot and the leaves started to fall all around him. Quickly he assumed a fighting stance. As the targets came into range the fist began to fly. Left a strong straight punch tore through the flutter leaves.
“That’s not it.” he said to himself already turning to the next target. A left jab that didn’t come even close to the leaves. The next right punch was already launched at a group of three. His hand just barely touched them and they moved only slightly. It was definitely different from the last time. He turned quickly and searched for the next target. They were all about him like a swarm of angry bees. It was there in every punch and jab. Something was there just on the edge of his consciousness . Each swing was a hint, and yet he was unable to interpret the clue given. Turn and swing, turn and jab. They were falling too fast for him to track. Anyone watching would see him flailing about wildly in the clearing. Some leaves he touched others he barely glanced. There were some he knocked away from the air off his fist. Still nothing like the first time. The numbers of leaves had decreased Arawn kicked another tree. Once again more leaves fell. So he continued to strike with renewed vigor. He was chasing a feeling a vague. He shook the thoughts from his mind and tried to put more focus on each punch. There was a crisp snapping sound of his sleeves with each punch now. That sound helped him keep rhythm. His punches were less chaotic, he was looking for his target before moving. He had to focus, just punching wasn’t enough. Already he was getting tired. Arawn took a heavy breath as he watched the leaves move around him. Ju-Jak taught him to gauge distances for defenses. It could be used for offense; something he thought to apply now. Using his imagination he made a bubble around himself. His maximum range with each hand to all sides of his body. A translucent sphere took shape. The first of the leaves passed into light blue area and Arawn pounced on it like a snake. Just on the edge of his range his fist tapped it lightly. No. The next one was coming there wasn’t much time to completely retract his right fist. Instead he rotated his elbow for a quick jab at the next. His left came swinging out as the pulled the right hand completely back. He would only react to those he could reach, wait for his target. Each punch that followed seemed better than the last. His reaction speed was abit quicker and his follow through tighter. The sound from his punches was crisper. Still the feeling didn’t return. After twenty minutes he stopped.

He had been resting, but now he was breathing heavier than when he started. His arms dropped limply to his sides and he gazed up at the dwindling light in the sky. The muscles where burning. It felt like fire was flowing through his veins. It was odd that after punching trees, punching leaves was even more tiring. “Defeated by a tree, how embarrassing.” he snorted. Arawn stood there and let the wind push against him. For all the work he’d done there was only a light sheen of sweat upon him. He sighed. “I might as well head back.” he said as his stomach growled. The wind was picking up again shook gently. More leaves fell Arawn watched them. He smiled and brought his hands back up. “Come on you bastards.” It was a brave front, his arms were like cooked noodles. There was no imaginary line, he just saw and swung his fist. His hand fully extended his snapped his wrist at the fluttering leaf. He felt it before he saw the golden light erupted from his fist. A narrow beam of golden energy, no wider than his fist, corkscrewed from the tip of his hand. The leaf didn’t stand a chance against the compacted reiatsu. It was like Hyun-Mu, but smaller, the vortex of energy ate through the leaf and continued a foot before vanishing like smoke. Arawn stared in disbelief after the light had faded. His thoughts were jumbled. He looked down at his hand completely puzzled. The burning in his arm had vanished, instead it was quite numb. It felt even more limp than it had moments ago. He replayed the incident in his head. What had been different from the other times? It wasn’t even a normal punch. There was no power behind it, not even half the focus. The feeling in his arm was returning. Instead of waiting for a leaf to drop again he moved towards a tree trunk. He took a deep breath and tried to keep his body relaxed. As he released the breath the punched at the tree. His fist collided with the bark and easily crushed it. There was more than enough force to drive the knuckles deep into the wood. Arawn sighed. Whatever he had done couldn't have been a fluke. He knew what he saw. After spending another ten minutes of trying the tree in front of him had a large hole in it now. Finally the red haired shinigami gave up. Pushing the hair from his face he started off in what he hoped was the direction of his tent.