Remedial Training - Week 1 (Cass Solo - Kido App Thread)

Cass walked down the halls of the shino academy his packet in hand, he had read over it numerous times and still no matter how many times he read the damn thing it made him angry.  He felt betrayed by his own captain.  How could he expect Cass, who had learned to fight and communicate with his sword outside of the academy, to sit through some boring lecture and learn kido?

This is just rubbish...  Cass said as he pulled a paper from the packet and glanced at a room number on it.  ...there is going to be no one here this late in the day at least no other students that is and I am to just sit and listen to some ancient instructor from the academy lecture me on the proper way to extend my arm and channel my spiritual energy before casting an incantation?  Cass let out an annoyed huff as found the right class room and slid the door open.

What he saw before him caught him by surprised,  there was a girl who looked no older than him sitting on the desk at the front of the room.  She wore the robe of an instructor but that is where the uniformity ended, on each of her fingers she wore a different sized almost gaudy ring.  Cass could just see the hint of some sort of tattoo peeking at the neck of her uniform, and then to top it all off was the bright, electric blue hair she had atop her head.  

“You must be Castiel...” The young woman hopped off the desk and landed deftly on her feet,  “I am Miyuki, and I will be your mentor in this kido crash course for the next few weeks.”  She held out her hand in greeting to Cass.

“It is just Cass, please...” He took her hand holding it firmly before quickly letting go.  “So lets get down to business: What will the first lesson be?”

“All business I like that...to bad you're a student.”  She smiled and walked back to the front of the room. “The first spell you will be learning is a relatively easy one and very useful at times.  Bakudo number eleven: Dust wind.”  She smiled, “I don't guess a flunky like yourself would even know the first thing you would have to do before casting a spell like this one.”

Cass frowned, but kept quiet. She was right of course but he wasn't about to tell her so, “You would need to channel your spiritual energy around you so that you and then focus it to one point before releasing the energy with the guidance of the incantation.”

The blue haired woman's eyes lit up, “You would be right if this was a single attack Kido, but this is a spell that is going to affect an area.  Instead of focusing your energy to be direct you will want to let it flow around you freely it needs to sink into the ground below you and stir the air around you.  Then all you have to do is say...”  Miyuki extended her arm gracefully, “...Blind the enemy with endless sands of the desert.  Burn his eyes and weaken his soul.”

Cass threw his arms up to protect his eyes, but the blue haired woman only laughed,  “This class is about you learning the kido not me casting them on you.  Really?  You thought I was about to hit you with a kido?”  Miyuki shook with quiet laughter, “Come on, give it a try...don't you worry about me I can take it.”

Frowning Cass closed his eyes and focused trying to let his spiritual energy, it was difficult to just let his energy flow away from him since everything they taught you at the academy was to hold your energy close to you.   It's easy...just drop all the mental guards I have put in place from letting my spirual energy run wild.   This is why a member of the stealth squad doesn't cast a kido while they are tracking a target.  Cass took a deep breath and inhaled and when he exhaled all the mental blocks that he had set up melted away, his energy was flowing wild and free around him.

“Blind the enemy with endless sands of the desert.  Burn his eyes and weaken his soul.  Bakudo, Number Eleven:  Dust Wind!”  Cass' left arm surged forward as a gust of spiritually created wind tore forward filled with dust.  

Miyuki didn't even bat an eye as she held her hand forward and stopped the dust cold in its tracks.  “That was good, a little shaky but, good for a first try.   Now I want you to go back to your barracks and practice that kido over and over again until you can't stand.  Then when I see you again in two days you will be able to hit me with it.  Not until then will I teach you the next Kido.”

Kido Application - Bakudo Number 11 - Word Count required - 210
Words written - 833

Two Days Later

Cass was mentally exhausted as he awoke the that morning, he had spent hours out on the barracks practice field yesterday casting the same kido spell over and over again until he couldn't see straight.  Though his execution of the technique was still shaky at best he had learned how to let his mental blocks down at will and cast it almost without pause.

When he swung his legs over the side of his bed and tried to stand,  immediately he notice something was off.  His entire body had felt like it had been put through the most gruesome training it had ever endured, but as soon as he stood up it was like the pain just washed away.  You are getting stonger Castiel...but you need to keep working hard to unlock all the paths that stand before you.  The voice of his blade echoed in his mind.  I will take your pain away, but you need to be more careful in the future.  Learn your limits and push them but never so much that you can't move.

“Thank you.”  Cass picked his sword up and slid it into his belt before quickly leaving his room and heading back to the Shino Academy to meet Miyuki. It didn't take him very long to find her room once he finally made it to the academy, sliding the door open Cass was greeted by a stern look from the blue haired woman.  

“Time to turn in your homework.  See if you can hit me with the Bakudo we learned last time.”  She stood her arms crossed at the front of the room.

Cass raised his arm and kept his eyes on Miyuki, “Blind the enemy with endless sands of the desert.  Burn his eyes and weaken his soul.  Bakudo, Number Eleven:  Dust Wind!”  A blast of air tore through the room carrying a handful of dust with it.  Like last time Miyuki raised her hand to block the blast, but this time instead of dying in its place the blue haired woman caught a face full of dirt and grit.

The instructor raised her hands to her face and started to wipe away the dirt and muck, “Good...Now this next spell is an offensive one...”  She coughed as she motioned him forward to the front of the class room and pointed towards a dummy against the wall.  “...A hado...now before I teach you the spell can you tell me the basic difference between hado and bakudo?”

Cass frowned, she was treating him like he was a first year student.  “A hado is an offensive technque that is meant to harm or outright destroy a target. Where a bakudo is meant to trap and capture a target so that he may be taken for questioning later.” his tone was rather snappish.

“Like before you are half right and half wrong.”  Miyuki frowned, “While it is true that a hado is offensive in nature you not all of them are meant to harm the target out right. Just as bakudo is not just for capturing a target.   Kido in general is a tool, just as your zanpakuto is a tool to help you however you see fit.  Whether or not you choose to kill an or harm is your choice, I hope you remember that when you are faced with such a choice.”  Miyuki looked at Cass with a sympathetic smile.

“Now for the lesson for today,  you will be learning Hado, Number Eleven: Bound Lightning”  Miyuki walked over to dummy and moved it into the center of the room surrounding it with desks making a very obvious path to the dummy.  “It is quite simple and probably more direct than mixing water and lightning...”

Cass flinched, it seemed that this woman knew of his biggest failure.  “...anyway this is very very simple you simply direct your spiritual energy to control the flow of the lightning.  This technique is used when you want to attack your target without directly attacking him, such as when he has set shields up around him.”  Miyuki looked at the target spoke, “ Hado, Number Eleven: Bound Lightning”  Cass watched as the string of energy flowed around the desks never once touching any one of the desks.  Finally like a snake it looped around the dummy once and then ensnared it burning a coil into it before sizzling out.  

“Now you try, Cass.”

Cass grinned, and standing perfectly still like he had watched Miyuki do,  “Hado, Number Eleven: Bound Lightning!”  Cass had expected the lightning to surge forward like it had done for his blue haired mentor, but instead he was blasted backwards off his feet and into the wall.

Miyuki was laughing hard as she held a desk for support, finally after regaining her composure she spoke, “You're mistake was simple.  You tried to mimic me and I am very tallented at casting spells.  I can channel my energy easily down and out of my feet, but you are still a novice.  Next time put your hand on the floor and direct the energy that way.”

Cass grunted as he got down on one knee and placed his hand flat on the floor,  “Hado...Number Eleven: Bound Lightning!”  Cass watched this time as the energy started to snake its way shakily across the floor and wind its way around the desks.   Once he grazed a desk, but Miyuki only clicked her tongue in warning as Cass quickly corrected the flow and hit the target dead on with the lightning.  

“Good Cass, but you need to work on your control in the future,  if you had hit an ally instead of a desk it could of cost him his foot. Still I am going to call this one a pass.”  Miyuki smiled and helped her student back to his feet.  “You're 'homework' this time is to practice your control; I recommend using the spell you just learned and practice Coiling it in on itself without once ever letting it touch itself.”  The blue haired instructor smiled, this was a difficult task even for the most skilled students, but it would teach Cass the control he needed for more advanced kido.

Kido Application - Hado Number 11 - Word Count required – 210
Words written – 1039

Continued in Week 2