Hakuda at its Finest (Shunko App)

Tatsuya fell to his hands and knees gasping for air, gallons of sweat dripping from his body. In front of him stood a female made of fire, created by his zanpakuto, Suzaku. He was in his inner world; the setting was a lake of fire and a permanent red sky. Suzaku, his zanpakuto, a majestic bird of fire, phoenix to be exact, was watching in the distance. Every single one of his muscles ached all over. The slightest movement would make them want to cramp up. He was on the last leg of his training, or at least he hoped it was. For days he was training in the outside world, or was it longer. He had lost track, but felt he was getting nowhere. He needed a more active training regimen and his inner world was the best bet for that. Even trying to stand was a struggle; his legs were rubber beneath him. Not to mention his shihakusho was torn to shreds, a side effect to the technique he was using. He steadied himself as best he could, preparing to attack the female once again. His arms and legs exploded in fiery red electricity, shrouding them in power. It wasn’t his shikai, no; it was something complete unrelated to zanpakuto. A technique that boosted hand to hand fighting by infusing kidou into the limbs of the user. Shunko. The technique was first mastered by Yoruichi Shihoin a former captain of the Gotei 13 and former commander of the omnitsukido. How did Tatsuya manage to come by this technique? It was thanks to a care package that Second Division Captain Kuro Akarui had managed to get to him.

Tatsuya was given some books during a secret meeting with Captain Akarui at Yellowstone National Park. The first chance he had he took a glance at one of the books. He was surprised that the captain would have delivered, to him, information on such a dangerous technique. The technique, Shunko or Flash Cry, was something he had heard in rumors and stories. He had thought the technique sounded too powerful, to even be considered real. But here it was in a book that had diagrams and was very detailed in the usage of the technique. Tatsuya even wondered how Captain Akarui came into possession of the book. But one thing for sure, was that Captain Akarui definitely saw a particular need and danger to risk getting these books to him.
He spent months reading and rereading the book, dissecting its diagrams down to the smallest details whenever he found the spare time to do so. His desk was riddled with papers containing notes he was writing. The information in the book was not in order. Tatsuya had thought he caught a few errors while reading it through the first time, and he just passed it by, but it was still noticeable enough to cause him to reread the book again. And he was glad he did, looking through it again, even the diagrams were out of order. But it was unorganized in a very subtle manner, if one were just to look at the book and not pay much attention, it would more than likely go unnoticed. Tatsuya however noticed a more menacing reason behind the layout. If one were to try and practice the technique listed at face value from the book, the result would be unpleasant to say the least, but could also have deadly results. No doubt a way to make it harder for anyone to achieve or even attempt to achieve such a powerful technique.

On the last day Tatsuya had already lost count on the number of times he had read the book, not to mention the amount of time he spent decrypting it. He finished writing down information on a once blank sheet of paper, and walked to the bathroom to wash his face. He looked in mirror to see his dark baggy eyes indicating he wasn’t sleeping much these last days while decrypting the book. Tatsuya slowly walked backed to his desk and picked up the paper he had just finished writing on. Sluggishly looking over it, his eyes suddenly shot open with surprise. Holding on to that paper he began to rummage through all of his other notes. After a bit of searching, Tatsuya found the particular set of notes he was looking for and compared them to each other. They were the final pieces of the puzzle. Tatsuya took his time arranging them in order. After putting the stack of papers on the desk Tatsuya went over to his bed and eased in not wanting to wake Sumiko, knocking out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Well rested, Tatsuya woke up hours later ready to continue. After taking a quick shower, he changed into some clothes and sat back down at his desk. Tatsuya was intrigued by the mechanics of the technique, combining hand-to-hand combat and demon arts. It is an ultra powerful technique that would drive the kidou through the arms and legs when properly achieved. The power and speed illustrated by the notes of the technique were frightening to say the least. Tatsuya had thought that the technique he had created, blending hand-to-hand combat and sword play, was “Something Crazy,” but it paled in comparison to the destructive potential of the “Flash Cry” technique. This technique could not even be attempted in a populated area while trying to learn it, or for that matter even if one mastered the technique, just because of how dangerous it was.

Tatsuya spent more time reading his notes after he had finished deciphering the book. Something like this couldn’t be left out in the open for too long, so he had to memorize everything. That took some time, but once he knew everything by heart, he burned all of his notes. Next, he needed to find an appropriate venue to start training. After a few hours browsing maps on the World Wide Web, he found his ideal location; The Nevada Desert. Vegetation was almost none existent, there was no civilization for miles on end, and wild life would be almost nil in the area. The perfect place to train a dangerous technique. Tatsuya arrived after few days of preparation with Sumiko accompanying him. He tried to convince her it would be dangerous, but she argued that it was all the more reason she should go. Plus she added that she would remain a far enough distance away so that he could train safely without having to worry about her getting hurt.

Day one ended shortly after midnight. Tatsuya returned slowly and disappointingly to their camp site to an awaiting Sumiko. She knew the look on his face and gestured for him to sit down. She walked around behind him and hugged around his neck, hands draped across and rubbing his chest. She lay her head on his shoulder, “Relax, you knew this was going to take time.” She spoke softly and reassuringly into his ear and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Yeah. I know.” He gently gripped one of her hands and showed a slight smirk. They went to sleep shortly afterwards. The next few days were nothing different, Tatsuya’s kidou skills were mediocre at best, and trying to hone it into such an advance skill would seem well beyond his ability. Not to mention the only two people he had heard using the technique had been captains, and he was nowhere near that level. But it is his hand to hand skills that he prides himself on and it is his determination to improve those skills that drove him forward.

After a day or so more, Tatsuya began to realize his mistakes. He had been trying to force out the flow of kidou around his arms and legs, rather than trying to contain it and letting it build up. He extended both of his arms out in front of him and began taking deep breaths, trying to relax. “Hado number five – Kakyuu,” a fireball shot forth from his hands into the distance. “Hado number five – Kakyuu,” He summoned another fireball and the exact same thing happen. “Kakyuu” He shot another, and then another, each with the same result; just shooting off in the distance. But, as he fired off shot after shot, he began to notice a “pull” that he never really paid any attention to before. The pull came from the center of his body. Each time he summoned a fireball, he could feel the kidou being pulled from the center of his body and being directed towards his arms then his hands before finally leaving. He just needed to find a way to stop that flow from exiting through his hands.

“Are you sure about this?” Sumiko worried. “Sure I am. Besides it will give you a more active role in my training. It can’t be fun just waiting for me back at the camp site.” Tatsuya confidently commented. “Well…okay.” She was still a bit hesitant while she unsheathed her zanpakuto. “Punture, Hari Sakana.” Her sword disappeared, covering her hands in white and pink surgical gloves. Tatsuya held out both his arms as Sumiko formed two blue green needles. “Don’t worry.” Tatsuya tried to reassure Sumiko, who only sighed, with a slight tilt of her head and a look of uncertainty. She placed the blue green needles at specific points just above his wrists. The points were to stop the kidou from exiting his hands and redirect it someplace else, where ever that might be.

Tatsuya could immediately feel something different in his wrists; not any type of stiffness or physical limitation, but something was different. Tatsuya started once Sumiko and he felt they were a comfortable distance away from each other. He raised his arms out in front of himself and began to channel a kidou spell. “Hado number five – Kakyuu.” He felt the initial pull from the center of his body as it worked its way to his arms and then towards his hands. The “pull” then stopped as it reached his wrists. “Hmm, well that’s a new…Oh…Ow!” He was about to comment on a feeling in his forearms when he felt the cramping and tearing of the muscles as the kidou fought for a way out. “Son of a…ARGH!!” He grabbed his arms trying to lessen the pain with no such luck. Tatsuya let out a guttural yell of pain as he fell to his knees, grasping at his arms. “TATSUYA!” Sumiko rushed to his side as he fell to the ground. She quickly dispelled the needles embedded in Tatsuya’s wrists, which caused the kidou to rush out. But because Tatsuya had lost control of the kidou it exploded as soon as it found an exit, burning his arms and other parts of him in the process. Sumiko escaped the explosion when she used shunpo.

Tatsuya spent the next day recovering from his injuries as Sumiko healed him. She wasn’t too happy with him, but she couldn’t stay mad at him for long. Once Tatsuya was completely healed, the next morning, he returned to his training location. Rather than try what he had done earlier, he took a different approach. Tatsuya learned from his mistake, he was not supposed to stop the kidou entirely, but allow it to flow freely, and redirect it before it made it out from his hands. Tatsuya made it a point to study as many forms of martial arts as he could. One form that piqued his interest was Taichi: Flowing freely in form, but at the same time harnessing the energy from within. Tatsuya took a basic stance, with his arms out as if he was holding a ball, and his center of gravity in his abdomen as he stood in a relaxed form of a horse stance. He was not stiff or forcing the stance, he was simply relaxed and…peaceful. Tatsuya began moving to his left, slowly but steadily, arms following in a small spherical motion. From there he started.

“Hado number five – Kakyuu,” His eyes were closed as he spoke softly and felt the pull from his center. He let it flow freely, not even trying to slow it down. Out it flowed from his hands forming a basketball sized fireball between his outstretched arms and abdomen. Instead of releasing it into the air, he held it inside his form, keeping it moving as he moved ever so gracefully from step to step. He had full control of the fireball, it never moved further than he wanted it to. He felt the energy of it. The energy inside the fireball and the energy that stayed behind in his body as it waited to be released from his grasp. Tatsuya’s pace quickened as he maintained control; the fireball moving along one arm to the other as he interchanged them. Tatsuya’s eyes never once opened as he moved through the form, he knew exactly what he needed to do. His arms flung open as he made the final step of his form, releasing the energy. The fireball didn’t fly off into the distance; it just disappeared as he released it. “Wow.” Sumiko thought to herself after watching Tatsuya from a distance. She had always seen Tatsuya using brute strength to train, but to see him moving with such grace and finesse as he controlled the kidou was just…”wow.”

Tatsuya started from the beginning once again, using the exact same form as before. The same motions, the same technique, except one. “Hado number five – Kakyuu,” He once again called out softly. He let it flow through his arms like he had the first time, but instead of letting it form on the outside he kept moving it. The energy circled his body as it went out through one hand and reentered the other and vice versa. He kept the energy swirling inside his body as he went through the form. Instead of just leaving the kidou as it was, he pushed more energy into it, and then more. And then even more. There was no strain on his body as he did this, but he did feel that it wanted to escape his control. His pace quickened once again, building up momentum. The energy swirling inside of him wanted a way out. No, it begged for a way out. And that’s what Tatsuya gave it. He flung out his arms at the last steps and pushed it out, not at his hands, but at the last points it was at; his arms, his back, and his legs. The top portion of his shihakusho was blown away as fiery red electricity flew from those areas and the ground behind him cracked and shook out of place.
“So this is Shunko?!” Tatsuya felt powerful as he looked at himself in awe. He clutched his fist and reopened several times, getting a feel for the power. He got into a fighting stance, before quickly charging forward with great speed, faster than he ever thought possible. He leapt into the air and threw a flurry of punches and kicks, all of which felt as though they could bring down mountains. He threw one final punch and launched a fiery lightning bolt that decimated the landscape below. The flowing electricity around his body faded in time just before landing back on the ground. Sumiko went running to him in congratulations. “I’m so proud of you.” She leapt into his arms. Tatsuya laughed as he caught her, spinning in a circle. “Thank you, but that is just the start. Now I need to be able to be able to summon it at any time.” He stated after placing her on the ground. “Well. Get to it.” She suggested jokingly giving him a playful shove.

The next couple of days went by uneventful, but progress was made. Tatsuya was able to summon up the power for the technique, but it still required a bit of work, usually revolving around the use of Taichi. He needed an external outlet to help him bring out the power at will without the use of a buffer technique. But finding a partner out here was not possible, and Tatsuya was not about to put Sumiko at risk either. There was one other choice. Tatsuya sat in the middle of the desert, his eyes closed, and his zanpakuto on his lap. When he opened his eyes he was in his inner world, standing in the middle of a lake of fire. “To what do I owe the pleasure, Tatsuya?” A serene voice was heard in his head. Tatsuya turned around to see a majestic bird of fire, Suzaku. “I’m training, Suzaku, and I need a suitable partner to spar against.” Tatsuya spoke out loud to his zanpakuto. “I see. Then maybe this might help.” The serene voice echoed in Tatsuya’s head as a torrent of fire erupted behind him. Tatsuya turned around just as the flames died down. What appeared before him was a woman made of fire. “It will fight for as long as you will. It will not get tired.” The serene voice explained. “That’s all I ask,” he replied.

Tatsuya made a quick spherical motion with his arms and flung them out, sending fiery red lightning out of his arms, back, and legs. His shihakusho ripped to shreds as he activated Shunko. The female disappeared and reappeared in front of him. Had it not been for shunko, Tatsuya would be out of commission with the first strike thrown by the female. He blocked the attacked and launched in to a flurry of his own. The fight was on. And on it went for hours, neither backing off in the slightest. At the beginning when the shunko technique faded, Tatsuya would try and reactivate it, but by the time he went through his motions to activate it the fiery female would not let him finish the process. That’s what he was afraid of. The time lag to activate the technique. For days he fought the fiery female, not resting until he could summon the technique without the precursor of the Taichi movements.

And so after days of fighting, here he was, standing in front of the unrelenting fiery female. And without so much as a blink of an eye, he activated the technique. “That’s enough, Suzaku.” He gave his back to the fiery female and walked towards his zanpakuto. The fiery female simply disappeared into the breeze. “Thank you, Suzaku. There was no way I could have done it without you.” He gratefully commented. “I am here to help you, Tatsuya. Whenever you need it.” The majestic bird lowered her head to Tatsuya’s height. Tatsuya closed his eyes and rested his head against her beak and when he reopened them, he was in the real world. He got up slowly and made his way back to the camp site. “So, how did it go?” Sumiko looked over to an approaching Tatsuya. “We’re done. There is nothing left to do.” He smiled as he sat down next to the camp fire and grabbed whatever food was available. “I’m glad you finished. I was getting lonely the last few days.” She walked over to Tatsuya and gave him a hug and a kiss.

3250/3000

Approved!