Secret Training of the Bookworm (Kido Training)

The sun’s vanishing rays shone weakly through the foliage of the small wooded area Ryu was using as his training ground. A remote location placed nearby the Shinigami academy, it was still far enough away to conduct training away from prying eyes. Ryu came here often to practice after class, and the area showed evidence to his work with the broken branches, strewn leaves and gashed tree bark that littered the ground. But Ryu was not here today to practice hoho, hakuda or zanjutsu. Today’s goal was the improving of his kido skills.

Ever since the class with Yasu and Kana where he had first learned to meld his spiritual power into these interesting spells, Ryu had been pouring over any written materials pertaining to the subject that he could get his hands on. If he could manage to master all of them, it would add a wide variety of strategies he could use in battle. He had spent weeks studying the lower level spells, making notes of the hand signs and memorizing the incantations. This evening he would be turning to practical application. He had a basic understanding of what each spell did by this point, so he felt that there should be no problem with his intent getting the effects to manifest this time like he had in class.

“Right, so for starters…” Ryu set up a crude training dummy that he had brought with him. In all actuality, it was little more than a mounted log dressed in some of Ryu’s old clothes which had the limbs stuffed with straw to add mass. It wasn’t pretty, but he felt like this would be adequate enough to produce the effects of the spells he cast, particularly the bakudos. He pointed his index and middle finger at the target and cast the spell Sai to test his theory. Immediately, the straw filled sleeves on the dummy swung behind the back and remained there until Ryu dispelled the effect and let them hang limp once again. “Good.”

Taking a stance a few paces from the target, Ryu began circulating his spirit power. Let’s start with the remaining bakudos… He ran through his mental list and paused. How could he have been so foolish? Many of the bakudos could only show their full effects on a living target or an attack from an enemy. He’d have to give up on those for now and concentrate on the ones he could do alone.

“Bakudo #4, Hainawa!”

A rope of spiritual energy materialized and snaked its way around the arms of the dummy before pulling itself taught and tying them in place. Ryu looked over the results as his mind thought of what ways he could use this. Though to be honest, Sai could arguably be more useful as it also targeted the arms but was better because it also put the target in a difficult position by binding them behind the target’s back. Maybe Hainawa was stronger and thus harder for an opponent to break? He’d have to test this in the future. Next on his list was,

“Bakudo #5, Senko!”

A bright flash burst out from the point in front of Ryu’s extended palm. Through some unknown mechanic, it did not bother his own vision, but he could tell it would be extremely uncomfortable to anyone else looking directly at it when it triggered. Useful for temporarily blinding someone. He drew his sword before casting the next spell, as it was needed to test the effects.

“Bakudo #6, Totte!”

Ryu’s zanpakuto was immediately stuck to his hands. He performed a couple heavy swings to test the effect and found that while he could shift the positioning of the handle, the sword would not part itself from his skin. This could be useful in a pinch, but he thought that he would likely not use this spell often. Limiting the versatility of his weapon could be dangerous.

“Bakudo #7, Benifushi!”

Like with the Senko spell earlier, this effect caused a sudden burst of sound that rung through the area echoing off of the trees. Ryu could use this to rob an opponent of their hearing for a brief period, or even cause pain and inner ear damage to those with superior hearing abilities. This was a useful spell to pick up.

“Bakudo #8, Seki!”

A small round shield about the size of Ryu’s palm appeared beside his hand. He couldn’t test how well it worked and would have to just be happy that he’d managed to conjure it. In theory it could repel anyone who struck it. So if he timed the casting just right and put this in front of an enemy’s oncoming attack, he could throw them backwards and create an opening for his own counter attack. The last two bakudos were curious, as they both shared the rank of #9 and even used the same incantation. Ryu had concluded during his studies that they were probably similar enough in strength and function that their shared ranking had been decided as a matter of simplicity. But that meant that mental imaging and intent were more important than ever to produce the desired spell between these two.

“Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo #9, Geki!”

Ryu waited, but nothing happened. His brow furrowed as he figured that his mental processes had not distinguished the spell he desired well enough. True to his predictions, keeping the other effect completely shut out while casting one of the spells was difficult. He’d have to try again. “Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo #9, Geki!” A red hue of dim light appeared, outlining the body of the dummy as its natural motions came to a halt. The arms hanging at its sides could not so much as sway in the light breeze that danced through the trees. Ryu let out a breath of relief and canceled the spell before clearing his mind and trying the alternate rank nine bakudo.

“Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo #9, Horin!”

Having properly prepared for the casting this time after his difficulty with Geki, Ryu managed to produce the desired spell on his first attempt. An orange strand of energy swirling with yellow shot out of his hand and headed for the dummy. Ryu waved his attached hand around and mentally directed the strand up and to the left, finding that he could near effortlessly change its approach to dodge around the area before latching itself around the targeted dummy. Ryu felt a certain affinity with this spell and made a mental note to do some more practice with it on a later date. Control was everything on the battlefield, and this spell could help him do that by chasing and binding foes in order to manipulate the surroundings.

Feeling slightly drained from casting so many spells in succession, Ryu strode over to a tree and flopped down on the ground for a breather. The sun was getting lower and the area was starting to darken. But he couldn’t stop yet. Though he had managed to produce the binding arts, he still needed to invoke the offensive spells that could aid in damaging foes. He grabbed a book from his pack behind the tree, stuffed full of his research notes, and began to go over the Hado spells appropriate for his level of practitioner. He could feel that he didn’t have much left in him, so he selected the spells that seemed most useful and widely applicable. If he so chose, he could return and practice the others some other day. With his choices made, he stood up and dusted himself off before returning to his position in front of the dummy.

“Hado #1, Sho!”

A glow of white light momentarily gathered in Ryu’s finger before producing a burst of the same light at the spot of the dummy he was pointing at. It was immediately shoved backward away from Ryu, falling with a dull thud to the ground as it was pushed off balance. Ryu kept his stance and cast the follow-up sister spell, “Hado #2, Kenin!” The fallen dummy was suddenly pulled back in his direction with about the same force as it had been pushed away with Sho. The effect wasn’t very strong, but Ryu was sure that he could find some way of disrupting an opponent’s movements with these. Now it was time for the real damaging stuff. He folded his hands quickly in a silent prayer of apology to the dummy which was about to be ruined.

“Let the swallow chirp at its finest and emit its power. Hado #3, Akaouda!”

The dummy’s prone form was blasted by a reddish beam of energy from Ryu’s hand. Though a small blast resulted from the impact, there wasn’t much in the way of damage after the dust had settled. Stepping forward to take a closer look, Ryu wasn’t sure if this one was worth it. It had a little more oomph than Sho, but wasn’t as damaging as the name would suggest. He returned to his starting position again. He was really feeling the fatigue now, but he grit his teeth and focused what energy he had left. The next spell was the last he wanted to practice.

“Hado #4, Byakurai!”

A bolt of lightning shot from Ryu’s finger at the dummy, piercing through the body and leaving a hole burnt straight through the wood and clothes. Ryu could barely contain himself as he grinned widely at the results of this spell. Compared to the others, this one could definitely take a spot as a main offensive option in his arsenal. As he continued celebrating, his focus slipped and the incredible feeling of exhaustion hit him like a boar. Ryu fell backwards, crashing flat on his back onto the wooded floor. Almost before he hit the ground, he was fast asleep. But regardless of how tired and worn he was, a big smile was present on his face as the sense of accomplishment filled him even in his unconscious state.